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ICE License-Plate Tracking Plan Withdrawn Amid Outcry About Privacy
An anonymous reader writes "Homeland security officials on Wednesday abruptly shelved a proposal to build a national database of license-plate scans after criticism from privacy advocates. The proposal, which had been posted online last week by the office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, sought a contractor who could establish a searchable database of license plates, with the times and locations where they were spotted by traffic cameras and other sources. But in a statement late Wednesday, the department announced a reversal. 'The solicitation, which was posted without the awareness of ICE leadership, has been canceled,' said spokeswoman Gillian Christensen. 'While we continue to support a range of technologies to help meet our law enforcement mission, this solicitation will be reviewed to ensure the path forward appropriately meets our operational needs.'"
And as such, your expectation of privacy on public roadways should be zero. Legally, I'm pretty sure if they wanted to push this issue there is nothing wrong with it.
The very purpose of a license plate is to make public the identity of a specific vehicle. Trying to say that govenrment or anyone else can not keep records of where a plate is noticed is absurd. My wife, my teenage kids, or an employee just might be driving that car. It does not track the owner at all. The tag identifies the car and not the driver. Worse yet one doesn't even need a plate unless one uses the vehicle on a public road. So just what element is private about a plate openly displayed in public. If I notice a suspicious vehicle can i write down the plate number just in case something happens? The privacy nuts get way over the edge these days.
Scanning of plates is nothing new. As of the mid-2K's, there was software that would use a police car mounted camera to read plates, run it, and determine if there are any wants and warrants related to the vehicle. I, personally, know of several departments in other states that would also do this in parking lots at malls and shopping centers and run EVERY plate. Their CJIS laws permitted this within their states.
Parking authorities routinely use this technology to detect parking scofflaws. The little trucks drive slowly along a road and scan the plates of parked cars.
EZPass can be used to track individual vehicles (well, the tags).
AEI Tags are mounted on railcars (they are REALLY big RFID tags) to track those assets as they move. Most railcars are not owned by individual railroads - they come from a federally managed pool.
You phone has a SIMICCID or equivalent that is transmitted to a cell tower. Between the SIMICCID and built in GPS/AGPS chips, it's possible to locate and track a single phone even among a crowd of people. This is used to track "burner" phones back to their point of origin when used to detonate bombs in certain hostile regions. Yes, I know this for a fact.
E911 is built into EVERY modern phone and can pinpoint a cellphone within meters. You have to smash the phone to disable this feature - you can't turn it off. In some cases, turning off or taking the battery out won't work as there is a battery backup in the phone keeping it "alive".
Keep in mind, driving on public roads is a privilege - not a right. Public Safety trumps privacy in public places. Your plates are visible. This is unlike GPS tracking devices on vehicles which DO require a warrant and probable cause to install and activate. Surveillance crews do not a warrant to track you visually.
What you do in your bedroom (short of a violent crime) is private.
This initiative has been delayed simply because of the current outrage of what people perceive to be violations of their privacy. It will be back.