“The information captured by the readers—including the license plate number and the date, time, and location of every scan—is being collected and sometimes pooled into regional sharing systems. As a result, enormous databases of innocent motorists’ location information are growing rapidly. This information is often retained for years, or even indefinitely, with few or no restrictions to protect” ACLU (The American Civil Liberties Union)
About: Automatic Number Plate Recognition, is a technology that automatically recognises vehicle number plates. ANPR uses images from CCTV cameras controlled by police forces, local authorities, and private companies. This technology allows police to track vehicles in real time.
How does it work? As a vehicle passes an ANPR camera, its registration number is read and instantly checked against police database records of vehicles of interest. A record for all vehicles passing by a camera is stored, including those for vehicles that are not known to be of interest.
Why is this wrong? Through ANPR Technology, police and state agencies have the ability to build detailed pictures of our lives based on information they compile in their databases. Location data can reveal extremely sensitive information about who we are and what we do.
More info at:
No-cctv.| What’s Wrong with ANPR
Crime and Justice | What’s wrong with ANPR?
The conversation |Number plate recognition: the technology behind the rhetoric