Thursday, February 4, 2016
Question of the Week No. 4
There is a growing privacy concern with the
proliferation of automatic license plate readers primarily centering around the
creation of massive databases that could be used for surveillance purposes. ALPR devices are being used both by
government and private businesses and several states, including Utah, have
enacted laws regulating their use.
Should the U.S. Congress enact a federal law governing the use of ALPR
technology?
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ReplyDeleteYes. ALPR technology was used to search for the Boston Bombing suspects. It can be used to find kidnapping victims. The technology has huge implications for the purpose of public safety. And it has been shown to be effective at finding criminals. (http://netchoice.org/lprfacts/) Therefore, the social benefit of this technology is high. However, as with most evolving technology, it has the potential for abuse—particularly in violating an individual’s privacy rights. Therefore, the government should regulate this technology. Because it is so important for the government to be able to use ALPR, abuses must be policed in order to maintain the integrity of this (highly effective) public safety mechanism.
ReplyDeleteYes, Congress should enact a federal law regulating the use of ALPR technology. While state legislation is a start and is necessary given Congress’ lack of action on the issue, the scope of this issue warrants a federal response. Not only would a federal law provide clarity in what is currently a messy area of law, it would provide standardization for federal law enforcement agencies and the commercial use of ALPR. States could still add additional protections and restrictions on the use of ALPR, but at least there would be a “floor” of federal law.
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't think that the federal government needs to take action on this issue. I believe that each state should pass their own laws regulating how it will handle the collection and usage of License plate information. I think there are 2 arguments in support of this position. First, this is different from any of the online issues we have faced because, there is not the same jurisdictional problems because you cannot be in your car in California and be in Nebraska breaking the speed limit at the same time. Second, there would be an Constitutional anti-commandeering issue with requiring state police to collect license plate numbers for the federal government, sure they could offer a grant or some kind of financial compensation for those states who want to join in. However I think that a better method would be to have states pass their own legislation regarding collection and use and maintain their own databases which could be shared with other states under necessary circumstances like kidnapping. This way law enforcement within each state can have a state specific database but have access to other databases when necesary.
ReplyDeleteNo. As an initial matter, I am not sure whether the feds have jurisdiction to enforce such a law. I am not sure whether the fact that cars travel past state lines would give congress the authority under the commerce clause. However, congress could obviously use the spending clause to adopt the regulations that states would have to adopt to receive funding. I imagine that the feds already often collaborate with local law enforcement agencies to utilize ALPR systems. I am not in favor of adopting another gigantic federal database, especially because license plate regulation is a state issue.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think that congress should enact such a law to regulate ALRP devices in how they are used. I fear that specific states will start to tax people on how much they drive once the technology becomes norm. In addition, this puts people that have to travel to work at a disadvantage. The benefit of using such technology could be immense with stolen cars and kidnapping. Also, I don't take issue with such uses as currently utilized to charge those who drive illegally in car pull lanes. The technology is also advantageous for border security.
ReplyDeleteYes, there needs to be a federal statute regulating the use of LPRs, and especially with regard to data retention, access by government and private entities. Thus far in our class, we have learned about the constitutional basis of the right to speech, assembly, privacy, various federal and state regulations regarding data collection, as well as common law privacy torts. We have also discussed cases where courts have held that police attaching a GPS device on a car is a form of search and seizure. The use of LPR technology by state governments, municipalities, etc. implicates all of the above, because the technology is "always on," and collects an unnecessary amount of personal data regarding a person's location as well as association with others, religious and political affiliation, etc. by virtue of tracking everyone's movements constantly. However, unlike merely installing GPS trackers on individual cars, this practice is far more pervasive and dangerous, analogous to the NSA surveillance of phone metadata, which similarly implicates all of the above issues we have discussed this far. This practice needs to be curbed substantially, and federal statutes need to establish what type of data is collected, how often it is purged, who has access to it, and how ordinary citizens can transparently gain access to data collected about them through other statutes like FOIA. Absent federal regulation, we have a patchwork of state and local practices as well as data retention in private hands, which amplifies the risk inherent in such data collection.
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