Submitted via IRC for Fnord666
Since 2016, Sacramento County officials have been accessing license plate reader data to track welfare recipients suspected of fraud, the Sacramento Bee reported over the weekend.
Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance Director Ann Edwards confirmed to the paper that welfare fraud investigators working under the DHA have used the data for two years on a "case-by-case" basis. Edwards said the DHA pays about $5,000 annually for access to the database.
Abbreviated LPR, license plate readers are essentially cameras that upload photographs to a searchable database of images of license plates. Each image captured by these cameras is annotated with information on the registered owner, the make and model of the car, and time-stamped GPS data on where it was last spotted. Those with access, usually police, can search the database using a full or partial license plate number, a date or time, year and model of a car, and so on.
Source: Gizmodo
From the SacBee article,
County welfare fraud investigators with the Department of Human Assistance use ALPR [automated license plate recognition] data to find suspects and collect evidence to prove cases of fraud, said DHA Director Ann Edwards. Investigators determine whether to use the data on a "case-by-case" basis "depending on the investigative needs of the case," she said.
"It's really used to help us locate folks that are being investigated for welfare fraud," she said. "Sometimes they're not at their stated address."
Through agreements, law enforcement agencies across California and the U.S. upload the images they obtain to a database owned by Livermore-based corporation Vigilant Solutions, which says the data help police solve crimes, track down kidnappers and recover stolen vehicles. Users can search the database by license plate, partial license plate, date or time, year or model of car, or by address where a crime occurred, which can show police which vehicles were in the area, the company's website says.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 17 2018, @04:00PM
Yes, as the collected data is probably illegally obtained. (And as a side-question, who verifies the correctness of the data?)
There are laws against stalking, invading privacy etc... Yes, a stalker can remain on public land at all times, only following someone on public lands and still be called and judged a stalker.
When the police think they need to do some stalking, they have to ask permission from the judge to make that legal for the very specific goals they request it for. This does not happen with such a camera system.
The argument is probably, but in public blablabla. It's called reasonable search. Someone seeing you pass by place C on your way from A to B, someone else seeing you park near place B, someone else noticing your nice or not so nice car. Reasonable
Someone following you from your home to your destination, making notes and photo's all along the way, and back. Not reasonable.