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It isn't just the matter of a reader and public information though. It is the large volume of information being tracked and used who knows how.
I mean if somebody followed you around all day, they would be called a stalker, right?
If somebody had their friends do it, same thing, right? What if they did that and sold the information to be used for any purpose?
In this case this is funded by the people being spied on. The same people don't get a say-so or any proceeds from the use of their information. DMVs sell information too.
Notice many govt agencies and their agents are going after people just putting cameras on officers. Seems hypocritical.
It is funny that police get upset when a civilian films them but are all for them filming everyone else. The excuse is in public you can't expect any privacy, but they do expect privacy. This is a very power tool which in the wrong hands could bring great harm to our society. We will see various local and state government sell the data to private companies for marketing etc..like the state of Florida did several years ago with driver's license information.
Seems fitting that the liberal, communist, America-hating ACLU would be involved in these types of shenanigans.
You must have missed the part about the ACLU exposing this police surveillance.
What fools never grasp is that the ACLU's reason for existence is to fight government overreach. By doing that, the ACLU makes powerful enemies. Especially when they fight government - corporate coziness. Corporations spend a lot of effort and resources feeding propaganda to uncritical gullible followers who automatically swallow whatever their favorite corporate mouthpiece (Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, etc) serves them.
quote:
The American Civil Liberties Union has released documents confirming that police license plate readers capture vast amounts of data on innocent people, and in many instances this intelligence is kept forever.
Next time you pull into a Big Box parking lot know that you, your car and license plate are being recorded from the rooftop. If you commit a crime, the tapes will come in handy and likely lead to your arrest. The cost of this surveillance is built into the price of everything you buy, no different than the cost of insuring the business against crimes and fraud.
Next time you pull into a Big Box parking lot know that you, your car and license plate are being recorded from the rooftop. If you commit a crime, the tapes will come in handy and likely lead to your arrest. The cost of this surveillance is built into the price of everything you buy, no different than the cost of insuring the business against crimes and fraud.
What does this have to do with the government doing it?
Anybody sign up for one of those spying devices Progressive insurance puts in your car? They(Progressive) say it will save you money on your insurance, but I am sure you will be logged if speeding. What if you live in a relatively safe area and are paying lower rates but they find you regularly drive in areas that are unsafe and have higher rates?
Now, just imagine if all the insurance companies could have access to information such as the above. It's been my experience with insurance companies that whenever they have to opportunity to raise your rates they do it, but when your situation changes to where you should be paying lower rates they never seem to go back to where they should be.
Just point out one possible consequence to the data being collected and stored.
Unless something changes, given the current course and speed of tech and the likely interested parties, it seems possible that soon not only local police or any fed agency, but also tech companies (Google, Facebook, Amazon, E-Bay...) and big data buyers (Insurance)and retailers (Walmart, Amazon, BestBuy) could see all or most of the following ... (starting with any piece of data but in this thread let's start with a license plate just scanned):
where the car ( plate..) has been, where car serviced, what has been repaired
who owns it now and in the past...and..their family, neighbors, coworkers, friends, classmates
descriptions and pictures of these people, (along with all the following data about any of these people or those related/connected to them)
education: teachers, grades, tests
religious beliefs/practices, donations
employment status, salary
approximate net worth, house value, investments
medical and mental health info (maybe)
purchases of most anything ... (think about going back to cash yet?)
dining and drinking favorites and recent and historic purchases (like the beer you just drank at the restaurant you just left)
favorite colors, shirt and shoe sizes, and pizza
(maybe what they are wearing right now or at least today)
gun, boat, or stock ownership
political party and beliefs
donations to politics, causes, charity
vacations, property owned, taxes paid
facebook page, twitter tweets, web site visits, forums and posts
phone calls, texts, emails both to who and with content
videos and stills of peoples/vehicles activity from millions of cameras
..... pretty well anything and pretty well instantly
As the database grows, the above info will become available about a persons whole life...truly the long promised "permanent record" the old high school teachers warned students about.
Sure this is a bit pie in the sky right now but not crazy or impossible. In many cases the tech capability is in front of the ability to manage and control it and appropriate access.
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