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Florida Town Stores License Plate Camera Images For Ten Years

Posted by Soulskill on from the i-know-what-you-did-the-last-10-summers dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Yet another privacy concern story, this time from Florida. The Longboat Key police have their new license plate camera up and running, but according to the police chief, this one stores all images as 'evidence' for up to ten years. When questioned about the possibility for abuses of this camera's historical record, the chief said, 'There are regulations, policies and laws in place that prohibit that kind of abuse. And if abuse is discovered, it's punished.' What could possibly go wrong?"

6 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. What could go wrong? by meerling · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The same thing that always goes wrong, somebody will abuse it because they can.

    1. Re:What could go wrong? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And then they will get away with it because cops don't care about enforcing laws that apply to cops.

      Indeed. No police officer has ever been disciplined, or even reprimanded, for abusing license plate photo data. So the chief's assurances mean zilch.

    2. Re:What could go wrong? by Joce640k · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I know of a local situation in which one was

      A few weeks suspension with pay isn't punishment (the rest of the world calls that a"holiday").

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      No sig today...
  2. He's right, it IS 'evidence' by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Evidence that we live in a police-surveilence state. Evidence of a flagrant disregard for the people they purport to "protect". Evidence of thugs and bullies abusing their power.

  3. Re:I could photograph your license plate by pitchpipe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I could photograph your license plate and keep it forever and nothing you can do about it. I can post it on the internet and nothing you can do about it.

    Yes you can private citizen, though It would be very difficult for you to photograph everyone's license plate at various locations all around the city 24/7 and store them forever. And you certainly can't link that person's phone records, bank records, browsing habits, etc., etc. and store those forever. And here's the rub: even if you could do all of that you yourself couldn't do a fucking thing about it because you don't have the law on your side giving you the power to break down people's doors in the middle of the night with a paramilitary unit of trained, lethally armed thugs who *know* you're a criminal.

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    Look where all this talking got us, baby.
  4. Simple by Kazoo+the+Clown · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Next time a local politician is suspected of philandering, simply FOIA the records and show how he and his girlfriend met at some hotel. Such rules will get changed in a hurry.