SURVEILLANCE - License Plate Readers

What!?  A car license plate that is in open public view is a privacy issue?  Come on folks, be serious and logical (if possible).  NOTHING in public view is private, including your face while in the car.

"Do License Plate Readers Prevent Crime or Create Privacy Abuses?" PBS Newshour 8/12/2013

Excerpt

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour):  You see them on roadsides, bridges, toll plazas and in the hands of police.  More and more these days, when Americans take to the road in their cars, cameras are in place to photograph and record their license plates.

Police forces are widely adopting the technology.  The date, time, and location of each image is uploaded into a database and can be used for a variety of things, from enforcing traffic laws to tracking stolen cars and suspects sought for criminal activity.  But these license readers have also raised privacy concerns.

We look at the issue now with technology consultant Sid Heal, formerly a commander with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, and Catherine Crump of the ACLU.  She wrote a recent study evaluating the program.