SoylentNews

takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Bay Area transit system approves new surveillance-oversight policy [arstechnica.com]

On Thursday, the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Board of Directors voted to approve a new policy [documentcloud.org] that requires that it be notified if the local police department wishes to acquire new surveillance equipment.

BART is one of the largest mass transit agencies in northern California, with a system that stretches from the San Francisco International Airport, through San Francisco itself, across to Oakland, north to Antioch and south to Fremont—adjacent to Silicon Valley. This new policy puts it in line with a number of other regional cities that impose community oversight on the acquisition and use of surveillance technology. It is believed to be one of the first, if not the first, such policies for a transportation agency in the nation.

[...] The new BART policy was approved just one day after the Bay Area News Group reported [mercurynews.com] that BART police had been using license plate readers at the parking garage at MacArthur station in Oakland for several months beginning in January 2017. The data collected was, in turn, shared with a "fusion center" of federal law enforcement data known as the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center.

Somehow, the MacArthur license plate reader (LPR) system was installed months after the Board had voted [mercurynews.com] in 2016 to delay installation of the high-speed scanners until a policy for their use could be drafted.

Related: California Senate Bill Could Thwart Automated License Plate Readers [soylentnews.org]
California Senate Rejects License Plate Privacy Shield Bill [eff.org]
Forget Scanning License Plates; Cops Will Soon ID You Via Your Roof Rack [soylentnews.org]
Los Angeles to Become the First City to Use Body Scanners in Rail Transit Systems [soylentnews.org]
California Officials Admit to Using License Plate Readers to Monitor Welfare Recipients [soylentnews.org]

Original Submission