Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

SoylentNews is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop. Only 6 submissions in the queue.

License Plate Readers Are Creating a US-Wide Database of More Than Just Cars

posted by janrinok on Tuesday October 08 2024, @01:07AM   Printer-friendly

Submitted by an Anonymous Coward:

https://www.wired.com/story/license-plate-readers-political-signs-bumper-stickers/

AI-powered cameras on cars and trucks have been used to capture images of political signs, individuals wearing T-shirts with text, and vehicles displaying pro-abortion bumper stickers. The data, reviewed by WIRED, shows how a tool originally designed for traffic enforcement has evolved into a system capable of monitoring 'speech' protected by the US Constitution.

[...] Another image taken on a different day by a different vehicle shows a "Steelworkers for Harris-Walz" sign stuck in the lawn in front of someone's home. A construction worker, with his face unblurred, is pictured near another Harris sign. Other photos show Trump and Biden (including "Fuck Biden") bumper stickers on the back of trucks and cars across America. One photo, taken in November 2023, shows a partially torn bumper sticker supporting the Obama-Biden lineup.

These images were generated by AI-powered cameras mounted on cars and trucks, initially designed to capture license plates, but which are now photographing political lawn signs outside private homes, individuals wearing T-shirts with text, and vehicles displaying pro-abortion bumper stickers—all while recording the precise locations of these observations.

The detailed photographs all surfaced in search results produced by DRN Data, a license-plate-recognition (LPR) company owned by Motorola Solutions. The LPR system can be used by private investigators, repossession agents, and insurance companies. However, files shared with WIRED by artist Julia Weist show that those with access to the LPR system can search for common phrases or names, such as those of politicians, and be served with photographs where the search term is present, even if it is not displayed on license plates. The research also reveals the extent to which surveillance is happening on a mass scale in the quiet streets of America, and how people's personal political views and homes can be recorded into vast databases that can be queried.

Original Submission

 
This discussion was created by janrinok (52) for logged-in users only, but now has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
License Plate Readers Are Creating a US-Wide Database of More Than Just Cars | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 38 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2024, @04:16AM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2024, @04:16AM (#1376181)

    It's pretty much everything that everyone says they hate about China, right?

    The only difference that I see between the US as it is now and China as it is now is: China engages in more corporate espionage, and the US engages in more governmental subterfuge.

    Social scores? Oh like credit scores, social justice, no-fly list? You can't even know your "score" if you're on the no-fly list or not. Sure, you can go ahead and work-around things, but wtf?

    genocide? Class, social, racial, drug warfare has been a part of the US for decades.

    Oppression? The middle class keeps shrinking, the rich keep getting richer, and the poor keep getting poorer (and beaten down for it). In fact, China might be better off in this respect.

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   +3  
       Insightful=2, Informative=1, Disagree=1, Total=4
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Total Score:   3  

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by PiMuNu on Tuesday October 08 2024, @07:40AM

    by PiMuNu (3823) on Tuesday October 08 2024, @07:40AM (#1376189)

    In China it's run by the government.

    In the US it's run by the megacorps.

    Cyberpunk is now.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2024, @10:28AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2024, @10:28AM (#1376197)

    The only difference that I see between the US as it is now and China as it is now is

    Also while both have elections the US has Two Parties, China has One Party.

    Yeah I know both actually have "other parties" but whatever.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2024, @04:03PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2024, @04:03PM (#1376227)

      Also while both have elections the US has Two Parties

      One Party, two faces, the American audience is more diverse than China's

      • (Score: 2) by gawdonblue on Tuesday October 08 2024, @08:35PM (1 child)

        by gawdonblue (412) on Tuesday October 08 2024, @08:35PM (#1376255)

        the American audience is more diverse than China's

        And you know this, because?

        • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2024, @09:51PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2024, @09:51PM (#1376263)

          The US is made up of immigrants from all over the world. China, not so much, not a lot of Africans and Europeans migrated over there. Most of the ancestry was born there, not a lot of variety in the phenotype outside the border regions.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2024, @04:00PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2024, @04:00PM (#1376226)

    Yeah, well, maybe things will get better when we recognize we are doing all this to ourselves, just by letting it happen. We suffer from learned helplessness. Unlike China, the elephant in the room is our vote. The power is ours to squander