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ICE License-Plate Tracking Plan Withdrawn Amid Outcry About Privacy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.'"
Yeah right, withdrawn. To be resubmitted covertly as something else, hopefully covered by "national security". Go on, celebrate your "victory".
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Driving may be a priveledge. Privacy is a right.
The former can be used to infringe upon the latter.
Actually, driving is neither a privelege nor a priveledge. It's a privilege.
If one thing the Edward Snowden releases have shown, is if the authorities are telling you they plan to do something, they are probably already doing it.
Take Nobody's Word For It.
I am so fucking tired of this mantra.
Being able to practicably exercise your mobility rights is a privilege? Being able to practicably exercise your right to live, work and be a contributing member of society is a privilege? Until we have completely ubiquitous transportation, either by public transit or autonomous cars, driving needs to be a right.
What good are your other rights if they are subject to revokable privileges?
(p.s. on a tangential note, driving also ought to be ingrained as a more responsible endeavor than most people believe it to be, not just that annoying thing they have to do between A and B. Our driver training standards in North America are laughably pathetic... you may die of shock when you learn about the years of continual training required in countries where they take driving seriously)
Like anyone would truly believe an underling could solicit such a bid without direction from the ICE leadership.
The bastards are out of control.
-- kjh
It doesn't bother you because you're only aware of it in an abstract sense. I've got a proposal. Let the government track people all they want, as long as they periodically send people the government's records of where they've been. You'd soon see outrage of historic proportions.
The false equivalence between tracking someone's location while they are in public and illegal search and seizure makes your comment hardly worth replying to.
It's not false equivalence, it's perfectly in line with the SCOTUS ruling that "tracking someone's location" constitutes a search.
Are you suggesting that when you are in a public park, being filmed by security cameras is a violation of your 4th amendment rights?
Now, you want to talk about false equivalence...
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
The governement does not own the highway, the public owns the highway in common. The government is nothing more than a steward of the public's property and if the public decides to change that they certainly may. As a matter of fact the public doesn't need the governments consent to change how our highways are managed either; the public can vote and make it happen.
load "$",8,1
I don't know where this "driving is a privilege" nonsense comes from. If "driving is a privilege", why not walking or breathing? They are all activities people engage in while on public lands. Unless there is a compelling public interest, government has no authority to restrict what we do on public lands; there simply is no constitutional basis for it. The restrictions we impose on driving needed to be justified by safety and environmental concerns.
But you're right: you have no expectation of privacy on public roadways. That means any private party can, if they so choose, collect your license plate information and follow you around. But the government is not a private party; it is more restricted in what it can and should be allowed to do. Police can't just follow you around without cause, and they shouldn't be allowed to collect license plate information without cause either.
So just what element is private about a plate openly displayed in public
What's private is the history of where that plate has been - tracking a person's car without a warrant is illegal, per the SCOTUS.
Shit, man, in these days of parallel construction it amazes me I have to respond to questions like this...
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
They are easy to spot for goodness sake, no need for tracking license plates.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
No, it a very well thought out document that very much defines the social contract and legal framework in the United States of America. To ignore it is to say that the law is whatever anyone says it is. For you liberals that like things as hey are now, wait a few years and "anyone" might be extremely ruthless and dislike liberals very much. If the constitution is simply "a stupid piece of paper" and means nothing, then said ruthless person could actually kill all liberals with no consequences until someone even more ruthless steps up.
What a moronic statement.