How Automatic License Plate Recognition Tracks Your Steps

"I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I alone am morally responsible for everything I do."
--Robert Heinlein

This is not the point. We assume our rights as the constitution outlines them. The right to free movement without being tracked and privacy in our lives is not somthing they should be able to take away from us on a whim. As they legislate laws that violate our rights- we should raise hell about them, not find the best way to get around them or tolerate them. We have a right not to be tracked - unless we are suspected of a crime, we have a right to expect privacy unless they have probable cause to believe otherwise. There is presumption of innocence unless there is a reason to think otherwise- this is long established as a american standard of law enforcement. Does anyone care anymore?

Like the frog in the pot of water on the stove- they keep turning the up the dial on us, raising the heat. As Rockdoc Franz has correctly pointed out- once they get away with the next step- they move on to the next one - and on and on it goes.

And when we "find them too obnoxious" and start breaking the rules - we are all criminals.

Now they got ya. Your cooked! The time to address these issues is when they come up- not when your caught breaking the rules- rules that never should have existed in the first place.

It's time to relieve these law enforcement agencies of the budgets they use to implement all this technology against us and against our rights as law abiding citizens.

And it's true as another poster has pointed out- they must violate 1000 citizens rights to find the one offender- is that the police state we want? Hitler could only dream of technology like this- they had checkpoints and police would stop anyone and ask them for "their papers". But hitlers police state had to do it all by hand, now we do it 3600 times an hour with one vehicle.

Yes- Hitler would feel right at home here.

A passage from Little Brother... where the main character has just gotten off of the subway and used his FastPass to pay. As an informational bit... he's nicknamed the police Zit and Booger... not something I'd do, but fits the character:

Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow wrote: They took me outside and around the corner, to a waiting unmarked police car. It wasn't like anyone in that neighborhood would have had a hard time figuring out that it was a cop-car, though. Only police drive big Crown Victorias now that gas had hit seven bucks a gallon. What's more, only cops could double-park in the middle of Van Ness street without getting towed by the schools of predatory tow-operators that circled endlessly, ready to enforce San Francisco's incomprehensible parking regulations and collect a bounty for kidnapping your car.

Booger blew his nose. I was sitting in the back seat, and so was he. His partner was sitting in the front, typing with one finger on an ancient, ruggedized laptop that looked like Fred Flintstone had been its original owner.

Booger looked closely at my ID again. "We just want to ask you a few routine questions."

"Can I see your badges?" I said. These guys were clearly cops, but it couldn't hurt to let them know I knew my rights.

Booger flashed his badge at me too fast for me to get a good look at it, but Zit in the front seat gave me a long look at his. I got their division number and memorized the four-digit badge number. It was easy: 1337 is also the way hackers write "leet," or "elite."

They were both being very polite and neither of them was trying to intimidate me the way that the DHS had done when I was in their custody.

"Am I under arrest?"

"You've been momentarily detained so that we can ensure your safety and the general public safety," Booger said.

He passed my driver's license up to Zit, who pecked it slowly into his computer. I saw him make a typo and almost corrected him, but figured it was better to just keep my mouth shut.

"Is there anything you want to tell me, Marcus? Do they call you Marc?"

"Marcus is fine," I said. Booger looked like he might be a nice guy. Except for the part about kidnapping me into his car, of course.

"Marcus. Anything you want to tell me?"

"Like what? Am I under arrest?"

"You're not under arrest right now," Booger said. "Would you like to be?"

"No," I said.

"Good. We've been watching you since you left the BART. Your Fast Pass says that you've been riding to a lot of strange places at a lot of funny hours."

I felt something let go inside my chest. This wasn't about the Xnet at all, then, not really. They'd been watching my subway use and wanted to know why it had been so freaky lately. How totally stupid.

"So you guys follow everyone who comes out of the BART station with a funny ride-history? You must be busy."

"Not everyone, Marcus. We get an alert when anyone with an uncommon ride profile comes out and that helps us assess whether we want to investigate. In your case, we came along because we wanted to know why a smart-looking kid like you had such a funny ride profile?"

Now that I knew I wasn't about to go to jail, I was getting pissed. These guys had no business spying on me -- Christ, the BART had no business *helping* them to spy on me. Where the hell did my subway pass get off on finking me out for having a "nonstandard ride pattern?"

"I think I'd like to be arrested now," I said.

Booger sat back and raised his eyebrow at me.

"Really? On what charge?"

"Oh, you mean riding public transit in a nonstandard way isn't a crime?"

Zit closed his eyes and scrubbed them with his thumbs.

Booger sighed a put-upon sigh. "Look, Marcus, we're on your side here. We use this system to catch bad guys. To catch terrorists and drug dealers. Maybe you're a drug dealer yourself. Pretty good way to get around the city, a Fast Pass. Anonymous."

"What's wrong with anonymous? It was good enough for Thomas Jefferson. And by the way, am I under arrest?"

"Let's take him home," Zit said. "We can talk to his parents."

"I think that's a great idea," I said. "I'm sure my parents will be anxious to hear how their tax dollars are being spent --"

I'd pushed it too far. Booger had been reaching for the door handle but now he whirled on me, all Hulked out and throbbing veins. "Why don't you shut up right now, while it's still an option? After everything that's happened in the past two weeks, it wouldn't kill you to cooperate with us. You know what, maybe we *should* arrest you. You can spend a day or two in jail while your lawyer looks for you. A lot can happen in that time. A *lot*. How'd you like that?"

I didn't say anything. I'd been giddy and angry. Now I was scared witless.

http://craphound.com/littlebrother/

Did I mention it's free online, or you can buy it as a physical book, as well..