Suppose someone were to follow you around in your car 24 hours a day and record where you were, who you were with, where you parked and how long you were there. Then suppose this person put together a complex picture of your home, habits, and routes. You would rightly think that you were being stalked. However, when the police or private companies do this exact thing with license plate reader technology, they claim that your car has no right to privacy because it is on the public streets in plain view. The plain view isn’t the issue-it’s the picture that is drawn from the massive databases.

A common and growing sight on street corners

When media outlets broke the news broke the news that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had gone out to bid for an extensive database that could track, sort, analyze and store information from license plate readers nationwide, the bid was withdrawn within days by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The DHS Secretary, Jeh Johnson, was quoted as saying he was unaware of the solicitation and was canceling the contract based on concerns raised by privacy advocates. Interestingly enough, other government agencies, such as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), are already operating similar databases for the collection of license plate information. Many of such systems are linked to and supplied by a nationwide network of feeder systems. Many of these government systemsare linked to privately held databases, such as the one operated by Vigilant Solutions.

If anyone is unfamiliar with license plate readers (LPRs), they are a camera-based system that can quickly read and record the license number, time and location of a vehicle, and will often store the information along with a picture of the vehicle and driver. The cameras can be statically mounted at strategic points such as intersections, or be deployed as a mobile unit, often on a police vehicle, but also on privately owned vehicles like those owned by Vigilant Solutions and MVTrac.

An example of a LPR graphical user interface of the digitally captured informaiton

Vigilant Solutions runs a nationwide system of LPRs and has stored over a billion images of vehicles, drivers, and other identifying information that is categorized by date and GPS location. This “service” and others like it are adding to their databases to the tune of 35 to 50 million new records each month. There is no law requiring the records to ever be deleted.

LPR cameras installed on a police cruser — note that every angle is covered!

These services are not just for the exclusive use of law enforcement agencies either. The companies sell to anyone who wants the data bad enough to pay for it. Given the fact private LPR companies like MVTrac claim to hold photo and location data of a large majority of vehicles in the United States,[1] it is no wonder that such upstanding and savory businesses such as auto repossession and skip tracing companies subscribe to these services and have the ability to search the entire database. No warrants- no probable cause, just write a check. The private companies claim that individual privacy is protected, as law enforcement does need authorization to cross reference a vehicle license number with a name and address. However, that may be a moot point as the license numbers are also being recorded in the driveways of the owners’ homes. A San Leandro, California man who demanded access to LPR records through a Freedom of Information Act demand to obtain images of his vehicle in law enforcement’s databases found that the local police had over 100 images of his car, including one picture of him and his daughters exiting the car in his driveway.[2]

Car parked in your driveway? Nope — no right to privacy there eitehr.

In the San Francisco Bay area alone, 32 agencies use license plate readers.

Advocates for the technology say that it is totally legal for a police officer to write down the license number of a vehicle in a public street, so there should be no difference in photographing that same license plate. What the advocates don’t say is that plate number, the location, and a picture of the car is then instantly uploaded into massive databases that coordinate with billions of other pieces of data to gain deep insight as to where that vehicle has been, or even where it might be going. That is a far cry from jotting a number down on a steno pad.

Further, this technology may be the thin end of a wedge that will permanently destroy any presumption of privacy or anonymity for law abiding Americans as they step out their doors. Vigilant Solutions also advertises facial recognition as one of their special services.

Profitting off your privacy one custoemr at a time!

How long can it be until anyone — not just the police — can apply the same technology used in LPRs to facial recognition that will enable anyone who can afford it to instantly identify anyone in the street by name? When that happens, the same argument will be used as is used for the LPRs.

Gone are the days where there was an expectation of privacy outside the home. Get used to it and make a point to stay out of the witness protection program.

Here is a promotional video by Vigilant Solutions demonstrating the practical purposes of this technology to law enforcement:

More information on License Plate Readers can be found at the following links:

https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-future/foia-documents-reveal-massive-dea-program-record-americans-whereabouts-license?page=1#comments-top

http://nvls-lpr.com/nvls/Home.htm

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/dhs-cancels-national-license-plate-tracking-plan/2014/02/19/a4c3ef2e-99b4-11e3-b931-0204122c514b_story.html

http://www.rt.com/usa/license-plate-ldr-database-039/

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/04/28/the-tiny-mistake-with-a-cops-license-plate-reader-that-almost-left-an-innocent-man-on-the-bad-end-of-gun/

[1] Privacy’s worst nightmare: Company advertises over 1bn license plate records.,NA, Nov. 20, 2013 http://www.rt.com/usa/license-plate-ldr-database-039/

[2] Kim Zetter., Even the FBI Had Privacy Concerns On License Plate Readers., Wired May 15, 2015 http://www.wired.com/2015/05/even-fbi-privacy-concerns-license-plate-readers/