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ACLU Study Says Police Cameras Create Database of Our Movements

Posted by samzenpus on from the somebody's-watching-me dept.

puddingebola writes "The ACLU has published a study saying the widespread use of police and traffic cameras has made it possible to track individual's movements, even across multiple jurisdictions. From the article, 'While the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that a judge's approval is needed to use GPS to track a car, networks of plate scanners allow police effectively to track a driver's location, sometimes several times every day, with few legal restrictions. The ACLU says the scanners are assembling a "single, high-resolution image of our lives." "There's just a fundamental question of whether we're going to live in a society where these dragnet surveillance systems become routine," said Catherine Crump, a staff attorney with the organization. The group is proposing that police departments immediately delete any records of cars not linked to any crime.'"

4 of 154 comments (clear)

  1. Well, yeah by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is the backstory that hasn't been covered. It's not about the NSA or Google or Microsoft.

    It's about Moore's Law and optical fiber and storage densities and the Internet.

    Soon it will be about robotics and AI.

  2. the answer is yes, we will by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "There's just a fundamental question of whether we're going to live in a society where these dragnet surveillance systems become routine," said Catherine Crump

    The answer is yes, we will, because not enough people care. Just as many people in the USA are in favor of these programs to "keep us safe from the omg terrorists!" as oppose them, according to many polls.

    Hell the media hasn't even been talking about the issues, they've been playing up the celeb angle.

    Our society is trending towards a total surveillance state, and people don't care enough to do anything about it. They'll keep voting for the same two parties.

    1. Re:the answer is yes, we will by bondsbw · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You shouldn't be able to simply march in, wave a flag with an eagle on it saying "National Security" and be able to plunder at will.

      There was a time when the 9th Amendment to the US Constitution meant something... such as the ability to simply say "No" to the federal government.

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
  3. Turn the tables... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Create network of private cameras and open source distributed back end. Collect and record all the data, make it available for anyone, and add OpenStreetMap style metadata editing. Then users can flag vehicles of interest, like those owned by Law Enforcement, politicians, lawyers. If dragnets are really constitutional, then nobody should mind, right?