
Los Angeles Just Proposed the Worst Use of License Plate Reader Data in History - impostervt
https://medium.com/@nselby/los-angeles-just-proposed-the-worst-use-of-license-plate-reader-data-in-history-702c35733b50#.xbl1lre3e
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jacquesm
That's why such technology should not be deployed in the first place. The
possibilities for abuse are endless and the upsides limited.

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hobs
And pretty much everyone in power knew that. This is just the first of many
encroaching actions, lets see if they just call this "metadata" and attempt to
keep it legal.

I am not anti-government, but you are completely right, you cannot ever give
the state these types of tools or they will use them en-masse against their
citizens.

Never underestimate the churlishness of a politician looking for a scapegoat,
they know that a large portion of the population will just roll over as it
only targets "bad people".

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rayiner
You don't have to call it "metadata." It's publicly observable information.

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bediger4000
Stipulated, counselor. However, this is analgous to the traffic light camera
situation. In the traffic light camera situation, we have 100% enforcement of
some law or traffic rule that previously, we had less than 1% enforcement. Yet
the fine for running a red light remains the same.

The fine was previously rather punative, because we, as a society, had to
compensate for the small number of enforcers we could afford. That is, any
given red-light-runner would stand a very small chance of paying the fine, so
we, as a society, judged that an extremely punative fine was the best way of
enforcing - you won't get caught very often, but if you do get caught, yipes!
that's a big ticket. It's quite within the realm of the law to set and enforce
punative fines for running a red light, but as we've seen, the whole of
morality in not contained within the law. Red light cameras are almost
universally loathed and given a chance, electorates will vote them out.

Similarly, license plates were nominally public, but only because they
couldn't be monitored nearly 100% of the time automically. In the aggregate,
monitoring license plates becomes quite a bit more theatening to liberty than
the very occasional check by the small number of enforcers.

As Stalin once said, "Quantity has a quality all its own". You'd be wise to
remember that.

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greenyoda
Traffic light cameras are used to enforce a law - it's illegal to run a red
light. Merely driving through an area known for prostitution does not violate
any laws. (Unless these areas are totally deserted, people live and work
there, and may drive through to reach adjacent areas.) If the government
thinks prostitution is a problem, it could enforce prostitution laws without
harassing innocent citizens.

