The ACLU warns that police are using license plate data to track drivers and pull them over based on supposedly suspicious travel patterns.

Automated license plate readers (ALPRs) aren’t just helping police investigate crimes anymore. They’re now being used to flag drivers for supposedly “suspicious” driving patterns.

  • dermanus@lemmy.caEnglish
    0·
    9 days ago

    Not a new problem unfortunately.

    Among the things courts or cops have deemed “suspicious”:

    Booking a nonstop flight

    Booking a flight with a layover

    Traveling alone

    Traveling with a companion

    People who appear nervous

    People who appear ?too calm?

    • Janx@piefed.socialEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      No, but now AI can mass-search for those reasons, or combine them, for all of us. You won’t even know you were targeted as a political enemy until you’re in an interrogation room…

    • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      You left off these ones from the list which are pretty funny

      Being the first person off a plane

      Being the last person off a plane

      Someone authorities believe has tried to blend in to the middle of exiting passengers’

      So… getting off a plane then.

    • Funkt4st1c@lemmy.worlddeleted by creatorEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      Simple throughline, two options: “Bad Vibes” aka being a minority in America or “I need to impress my superior, and the best thing i could do would be whatever sherlock holmes does, but im an idiot so ill just roll the dice on the next guy and hope im right and get promoted :)”

  • dan1101@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    9 days ago

    This is exactly why law enforcement using a nationwide surveillance system constantly gathering evidence on everyone passing one of their cameras is a 4th amendment violation.

    • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      Bingo. Any reasonable judge would toss these cases for not having probable cause.

      This also seems like easy legislation at the federal level. “Driving patterns gleaned from the use of an ALPR system does not, by itself, constitute probable cause.”

    • Zink@programming.devEnglish
      0·
      8 days ago

      In a country that has been building its infrastructure around personal automobiles for decades, we cannot make that necessary function of daily life be an automatic consent to targeted analysis.

      I get that cameras pointed at intersections and highways are here to stay. That means there will be records of what happens in public places that can be analyzed for a certain person’s movements once there’s a warrant.

      That’s the whole fucking point of warrants and 4th amendment protections. Just because the technical ability exists to analyze somebody’s Personally Indentifiable Information doesn’t mean you just get to do it. Just like you don’t get to listen to any phone call you want, or plant bugs and trackers on everybody you are curious. (A group of three-letter agencies enters the chat, lol)

  • dan@upvote.auEnglish
    0·
    9 days ago

    ctOS from Watch Dogs was supposed to be a warning… It wasn’t supposed to become a real system.

  • OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    8 days ago

    Anyone have links for actual abuse. Stories, cases, real links that show major corruption and abuse of this tech? Large scale the better. I have contacts in a group law firm looking for cases. Maybe people in those positions can make change. Get into the headlines. Link the best reports you can find below.

    Upvote this and let’s get traction.

  • SeeMarkFly@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    The police don’t need a computer to suspect you. They already suspect you.

    They need a computer to blame the mistake on.

  • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
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    10 days ago

    The Wired article linked by the OP article mentions visiting multiple banks in a week as suspicious behavior that gets flagged… if we had a car (assuming it needs a license plate to attach to you and look up info), that would have pinged my spouse last week. Stupid fucks live in such ivory towers that they’ve never had a bank run out of quarters for the washing machine.

    • frustrated_phagocytosis@fedia.io
      0·
      10 days ago

      I used to visit the bank way more often when living paycheck to paycheck because it was the only way to get ahead of insufficient funds charges. I was depositing cash from whatever I could sell to pay off the $25 per item overdraft fees.

    • Snowclone@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      10 days ago

      I used to be a manager at a smoothie shop. went to like two banks a day with different business needs, guess that’s not allowed… who knew?

    • undefined@lemmy.hogru.chEnglish
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      9 days ago

      I got so tired of the quarters problem (bank online so I get ATM fees then have to go to a laundromat to pretend I’m doing laundry there) that I bought a whole-ass washing machine for $180 to avoid the problem.

      I’m actually saving a ton of money and because my landlord is checked out and lives far from here he’ll never know we have a portable washer in our apartment.

      • partial_accumen@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        9 days ago

        I’m actually saving a ton of money and because my landlord is checked out and lives far from here he’ll never know we have a portable washer in our apartment.

        Why would your landlord have a problem with a portable washer in your apartment? Is there language written into your lease prohibiting it?

    • Talcosis@lemmy.zipEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      Side benefit of the extreme proliferation of gambling: basically every bar has a shitload of quarters now.