US Lawmakers Propose Rules to Restrict License-Plate Reader Networks
Summary
Two proposed US bills would either regulate license-plate reader networks or bar federal agencies from using them, citing privacy, misuse, and accuracy concerns. Neither proposal has become law.
Key points
- The Stop Flock Abuse Act would require approval and records for searches, supervisor audits, encryption, and deletion of most vehicle-location data after ten days.
- That proposal would also restrict data sharing and sale, prohibit facial recognition in ALPR networks, and require data to remain in the US.
- The Ban Flock Act would prohibit federal agencies from using ALPRs or accessing their data, and restrict grants to state and local governments that use the systems.
- Both bills remain proposals and would need to pass the House and Senate and be signed by the President.
- The article cites concerns that networked plate-reader data can reveal people’s routines and that inaccurate data can have serious consequences; one woman described being wrongly implicated in a fatal crash and held for 13 days.
Article Details
- Event Type
- Proposed US legislation to restrict or prohibit government use of automated license plate reader networks
- Impact
- The proposals could impose approval, audit, encryption, data-retention, sharing, facial-recognition, and data-location requirements on ALPR use, or bar federal agencies from using ALPRs and restrict grants to state and local governments that use them. The article also describes privacy and civil-liberties concerns about movement tracking and cites an account of a person arrested after an ALPR system incorrectly implicated her in a fatal crash.