License Plate Scanning From Helicopters With Automatic Plate Recognition (APR)
So it appears that there is technology on the way that will allow helicopters to scan up to five car license plates a second despite weather conditions. I became aware of this by reading a post over at Schneier on Security (which is a great daily read for anyone interested in security).
This technology brings up the questions of, “Is it an invasion of privacy”. Once the technology is provided there is no limit to what they can do with the data. Once the plates are read they could immediately be put into a database with the time and location for future reference. Is it the government’s right to track you in a government licensed vehicle on a government owned and funded road? Some believe that Automatic Plate Recognition (APR) will only encourage criminals to swap license plates or obtain another individual’s vehicle (which they do already). On top of this, I’m not sure that that the government will be able to monitor vehicles unless they suspect criminal activity (legally speaking). The idea that the government can have a running database of where cars were at what times based on scans from helicopters is a scary thought. Schneier believes that the answer to this whole situation is to “not field this sort of system in the first place”.
I think we can all agree that the system would be useful in catching legitimate criminals or terrorist in some situations. The problem is once this technology is in the air on police helicopters; it will be tuff to determine who and what gets scanned. It would be to easy to just scan everything for future reference. The United States has implemented the technology in stationary locations and have seen results. One particular instance in Ohio claims that it was very effective in helping them recover 24 stolen cars in its pilot run.
For more on this technology check the following:
Westminster International LTD
HomeOffice.gov
What is your view on the use of this technology? Is it an invasion of privacy? Is it the goverment’s right?
9 comments so far
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I dont believe that this is any invasion of privacy. But I do believe that there should be a limit placed on how much the government should be able to use this technology. I think they should only be allowed to use it if someone has broken the law, and they shouldnt be able to just scan everybody.
What reasonable expectation of privacy is expected in public. If I wanted to I could drive around and take pictures of every person’s license plate that I came across if I wanted to. I am not invading someones privacy until I start to inquire as to their address and other personal information that is not on public record. License plates are a plain view object and there is no expectation of privacy for them, otherwise we would not have them. Its the same idea that Girls Gone Wild has made millions off of. They take pictures of girls showing their stuff in public. Thus there is no expectation of privacy. They can not expect someone to take pictures in public if they choose to bare everything. Its the same sort of principal. Now if the government uses this technology to track peoples movements, “big brother” for no apparent reason then there is a slight invasion of privacy.
I think that is a valid point. License plates are out there for everyone to see and therefore I don’t see that there is a huge problem with taking snapshots of them and recording time, date, and place. The crap thing is when people get investigated because there car was within one mile of a crime scene based on a capture from the system. At the same time the system could provide an alibi for a current suspect. After all, this system will not only work from helicopters, but can be placed in stationary positions all over. At the same time, if a thief stole my license plate because I have the same car he does, I’m going to be upset when the police show up on my door step. So I’m not sure how effective it will be.
The innocent have nothing to fear. As long as we are smart enough to be the government’s watchdog as is our patriotic responsibility and make sure the power is not being abused we should be all right. I think Andrew Jackson called for a bloody revolution every 20 years to keep the government honest. I think we are past barbaric times like that, but if I have to fight to preserve my freedoms then so be it. I know us “country folk” here in western KY can shoot and shoot well. Start abusing my rights and I’ll be number one proponent of bloody revolution.
My only fear is that sooner or later everyone will be required to have some sort of tracking device inplanted (mark of the beast hehe). Is technology like ARP a foot in the door?? How close do we have to get to contantly tracking people beofore we just bump things up to the next notch?
This is just the first step. I’m big on government conspiracies, but still. If something like this happens then it won’t be to long before something else will. And we probably won’t realize that it’s happening because it will happen little by little until they can just track us where ever we are at anytime.
If you really want to think about it, they already have the capabilities to track us anywhere we go if we choose to use any type of payment other than cash. I personally am not going to start paying for everything in cash just to keep the government off my back. Beyond that, anything from cell phones to pagers can be used to track us. We are all worried about more ways for the government to track us when they already have so many ways to do it. If you don’t want to be tracked, sell everything you own, buy a tent, give someone your car and your credit card and tell them to drive the opposite direction they are headed. Pitch a tent somewhere in the middle of Montana and live off o the land. Thats about the only way to completely get out from under the governments ever watchful eye.
Just because the government can track you indirectly, does not give them the right to implement technology to track you directly. Indirect tracking must first be sparked by believing there might be criminal activity. Direct tracking is simply there for curiosity. I don’t think technology such as ARP is anything to get worked up about. It will serve a purpose. The main problem is that personal privacy does not have a definition. Privacy is self created. It has no definite boundaries and therefore we will all continue to struggle on what truly invades it.
I do realize that the government does have ways in which they can track us. But If i’m walking through wal-mart, I havent bought anything with a credit card and I don’t have a pager or cell phone; then the government cant just walk over to a computer and type in my name and see that im located 43 degrees long. 64 degrees lat. or whatever. However if the government uses APR then they can find out the exact location of our car at anytime.