Louisiana Governor Vetoes License Plate Reader Bill, Citing Privacy Concerns

An anonymous reader writes: Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has vetoed a plan to acquire license plate reading cameras in the state. Law enforcement agencies nationwide use such cameras to scan cars and compare them to a "hot list" of stolen or wanted vehicles. That data is kept for weeks, or even years In some cases. Jindal wrote in a signing statement: "Senate Bill No. 250 would authorize the use of automatic license plate reader camera surveillance programs in various parishes throughout the state. The personal information captured by these cameras, which includes a person’s vehicle location, would be retained in a central database and accessible to not only participating law enforcement agencies but other specified private entities for a period of time regardless of whether or not the system detects that a person is in violation of vehicle insurance requirements. Camera programs such as these that make private information readily available beyond the scope of law enforcement, pose a fundamental risk to personal privacy and create large pools of information belonging to law abiding citizens that unfortunately can be extremely vulnerable to theft or misuse. For these reasons, I have vetoed Senate Bill No. 250 and hereby return it to the Senate."

Comments

Re:too late

[bws111]

Too late for what? Apparently 'practically everywhere' does not include Louisiana.

As much good as I think these things can do

[Snotnose]

I see much more potential for evil. Be nice if they had a 0 day retention policy, then it could be used to find stolen cars. But it's a very small step from scanning a plate, checking it against a database, then discarding the into; , to retaining the data for however long The Powers That Be want it. I flat out do not trust the government anymore, I don't want them tracking everyone's cars 24/7.

Re:As much good as I think these things can do

[disposable60]

It's not just the retention for government purposes, but the access by outside entities (insurance companies, PIs, bounty hunters, stalkers, reporters) that grills my hotdog.

Re:Why would a license plate point to a person

[jargonburn]

...when an IP address does not?

Because multiple cars don't share the same license plate. Besides, even if it's just multiple drivers sharing one car (analogous to multiple users on one computer), the "owner" of the car should only be punished incidentally for crimes/violations committed by other people driving the car.

Re:The cognitive dissonance ...

[YttriumOxide]

As a European socialist, let me be the first to say that the government can keep their goddamn noses out of my private affairs.

Socialism is about making some individual sacrifices for the good of society as a whole (because in the bigger picture, that also benefits each individual); not mindlessly letting the government have complete control over my life.