Dad, the Engineer
Below is a curated listing of articles and news items that have been published on the topic of ALPR's and surveillance.
License plate reading cameras spark debate across New Jersey
Christine Queally | News 12 NJ
Unlike traditional security cameras, Flock cameras collect information about every vehicle that passes through their field of view, regardless of whether a moving violation has been committed.
Residents across New Jersey are divided over the growing presence of license plate reading cameras, commonly known as Flock cameras.
Unlike traditional security cameras, Flock cameras collect information about every vehicle that passes through their field of view, regardless of whether a moving violation has been committed.
They record a vehicle's license plate number, make, model and color. The cameras also document the location, date and time the vehicle was recorded.
Innocent Woman Jailed Because of Flock Cameras
Curiosity Corner
ACLU: Get the Flock Out!
ACLU
Automatic license plate reader (ALPR) companies like Flock Safety are quietly trying to build a nationwide mass surveillance system. If there are Flock cameras in your city, they are tracking, logging, and sharing your movements without a warrant. But we're not powerless. More and more communities are rejecting these creepy cameras — and yours can be one of them!
3 Flock license plate cameras in Milford vandalized
Greg Thompson
A source tells News 12 that at some point last week, four of the city's Flock Safety license plate recognition cameras were vandalized and knocked down.
"Good, I'm glad," said Milford resident Arthur Pocevic after hearing the news. "It wasn't me, but I have no problem with that."
Unlike Milford's speed cameras that were installed a couple months ago these cameras have been up for about a year.
Police Keep Losing Their Jobs for Using Flock Cameras to Stalk People
Sophie Hurwitz
Advocates say it’s too easy to abuse automated license plate reader technology.
Flock cameras—solar-powered, automated license plate readers, weighing less than 3 pounds and designed to be unobtrusive—can be found on 80,000 street corners throughout the country. The company behind the cameras built an $8.3 billion business empowering officers to track people’s movements. Nationwide, Flock cameras log billions of license plates each month. And now dozens of reports are emerging of police using the cameras not to solve crimes, but to stalk their partners and exes.
Flock Says Its Cameras Worked ‘Correctly’ When Police Tracked and Ambushed Me for No Reason
Joel Feder
By now, millions of people have seen our story about how a series of errors between Flock Safety and law enforcement led police to track me for days via automated license plate cameras and ambush me in a coordinated takedown. Millions more have seen the body cam footage of the incident we obtained and published. It’s become part of an even larger and more heated conversation about privacy in America, and one week later, I’ve learned a lot more about how and why it happened—including from Flock itself.
Victory for Small San Diego Business! Federal Appeals Court Rules Against Ruinous Financial Surveillance of California Money Services Businesses
Andrew Wimer | Institute for Justice
SAN DIEGO—San Diego small business owner Esperanza Gomez can continue to operate her money services business free of ruinous financial surveillance after a federal appeals court ruled today in her favor. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court order directing the federal government to halt a targeted financial surveillance rule aimed at California money services businesses (MSBs). Esperanza sued with the Institute for Justice (IJ), a national nonprofit law firm that also sued to protect Texas businesses from the same surveillance.
“I am very relieved to have my victory confirmed by the court,” said Esperanza. “If the rule had gone into effect, I don’t think I could have kept my business. I’m also proud that my win has saved many similar businesses.”
2nd Milwaukee officer charged with using Flock cameras for stalking
Christina Van Zelst
MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- A second Milwaukee police officer has been charged with misusing Flock cameras to stalk two victims.
The detective was assigned to investigate another officer misusing the cameras -- but he was doing the same thing. Tehrangi Chapman, 51, is charged with misconduct in public office and misuse of a GPS device. He's a detective for Milwaukee police with 22 years of service. Chapman has been suspended since March 13.
Supreme Court Fights for Privacy, Just Not Financial Privacy
Nicholas Anthony
Published originally at Cato.org. Published under Creative Commons License
The Supreme Court fought for privacy in Chatrie v. United States, putting another dent in unchecked surveillance that has become too common. Yet, in a concurring opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch pointed out an important issue: the decision seems to be drawing lines in the sand when it comes to the Fourth Amendment. While I’m happy to see the Fourth Amendment affirmed, Gorsuch is right.
Chatrie v. United States
If you have not been following the case, the issue centers around how the police investigated a bank robbery. In short, the police used a geofence warrant to get Google to hand over the location history of anyone who had been in the area during the robbery. After sifting through the data, the police eventually landed on Okello Chatrie.
Building on a similar case (Carpenter v. United States), the Court reminded everyone that the Fourth Amendment serves as a check on the government’s power:
The Fourth Amendment protects individuals’ reasonable expectations of privacy, and governmental “intrusion into that private sphere generally qualifies as a search.” The Amendment’s “basic purpose” is “to safeguard the privacy and security of individuals against arbitrary invasions by governmental officials,” and it was designed “to place obstacles in the way of a too permeating police surveillance.”