EFF Wins Access to License Plate Reader Data to Study Law Enforcement Use

Re:EFF Wins Access to License Plate Reader Data to Study Law... by anon1m0us on Thursday October 03, 2019 @05:48PM (#21152610)

How does having the data tell the EFF how they are using the data? If you give me a spreadsheet with a bunch of data in it, I don't know how you use it.

Are they using it legally? How can we know just by looking at the data they have?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:EFF Wins Access to License Plate Reader Data to Study Law... by u-dissolve on Thursday October 03, 2019 @11:57PM (#21154650)

It doesn't matter how they are using the data, what matters is how they can use the data. We shouldn't trust that they will always do the right thing for citizens' privacy.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:EFF Wins Access to License Plate Reader Data to Study Law... by hnburnsy on Thursday October 03, 2019 @06:58PM (#21153148)

How about what parts of town they are collecting this data in and where APLR readers are located. Are all readers based on police vehicles? Are there fixed links location readers? I would assume every entry comes with lat\long and time of day.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:EFF Wins Access to License Plate Reader Data to Study Law... by irq-1 on Friday October 04, 2019 @10:25AM (#21158014)

In addition to data Creation and Reading, we also have to address Update and Delete.

Do they change the data or delete "special" cars or "special" events. If there are any exceptions to collecting and storing the data, we can't trust it for much of anything: maybe the license plate entry was changed to a different license, maybe seeing a license at a location was added to the data, maybe other suspects are ruled out because data was deleted. And there will absolutly be exceptions: undercover officers, the presidents motorcade, people with stalkers, etc...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:EFF Wins Access to License Plate Reader Data to Study Law... by tomnipotent on Thursday October 03, 2019 @10:04PM (#21154183)

> where APLR readers are located

On police cruisers, which indiscriminately scan as they drive through any neighborhood.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:EFF Wins Access to License Plate Reader Data to Study Law... by indrax on Thursday October 03, 2019 @07:37PM (#21153393)

They can cross reference with the cases that actually get prosecuted.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:EFF Wins Access to License Plate Reader Data to Study Law... by tyingq on Thursday October 03, 2019 @09:46PM (#21154116)

"The data, which has been deidentified to protect drivers’ privacy, will allow EFF..."

Cross references won't be easy.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:EFF Wins Access to License Plate Reader Data to Study Law... by RandomBacon on Thursday October 03, 2019 @06:10PM (#21152802)

I'm guessing they might be able to find out how and where they're collecting the data.

[ Parent | on HN ]