More Events in time and space
Tom Johnson
It ain't just in Colorado.
-tj
This is what the ACLU thinks about the license plate tracking.
From: Micah McCoy <mmc...@aclu-nm.org>
Date: Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 11:55 AM
Subject: PRESS RELEASE: ACLU Seeks Details on Automatic License Plate Readers in Massive Nationwide Request
To: mmc...@aclu-nm.org
ACLU Seeks Details on Automatic License Plate Readers in Massive Nationwide Request
DEA Confirms License Plate Readers Already in Use in New Mexico
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 30, 2012
CONTACT: Micah McCoy, (505) 266-5915 x1003 or mmc...@aclu-nm.org
NEW YORK –American Civil Liberties Union affiliates in 38 states, including New Mexico, sent requests today to local police departments and state agencies that demand information on how they use automatic license plate readers (ALPR) to track and record Americans’ movements. The DEA has already confirmed that these devices are currently deployed in New Mexico.
In addition, the ACLU and the ACLU of Massachusetts filed federal Freedom of Information Act requests with the departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Transportation to learn how the federal government funds ALPR expansion nationwide and uses the technology itself.
ALPRs are cameras mounted on patrol cars or on stationary objects along roads – such as telephone poles or the underside of bridges – that snap a photograph of every license plate that enters their fields of view. Typically, each photo is time, date, and GPS-stamped, stored, and sent to a database, which provides an alert to a patrol officer whenever a match or “hit” appears.
“Automatic license plate readers make it possible for the police to track our location whenever we drive our cars and to store that information forever,” said Catherine Crump, staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy & Technology Project. “The American people have a right to know whether our police departments are using these tools in a limited and responsible manner, or whether they are keeping records of our movements for months or years for no good reason.”
ALPRs are spreading rapidly around the country, but the public has little information about how they are used to track motorists’ movements, including how long data collected by ALPRs is stored, and whether local police departments pool this information in state, regional or national databases. If ALPRs are being used as a tool for mass routine location tracking and surveillance and to collect and store information not just on people suspected of crimes, but on every single motorist, the American people should know that so that they can voice their concerns.
ALPRs have already proven controversial. Just last month the Drug Enforcement Administration withdrew its request to install ALPRs along certain portions of Interstate 15 in Utah after they were met with resistance by local lawmakers.
“Tracking and recording people’s movements raises serious privacy concerns, because where we go can reveal a great deal about us, including visits to doctor’s offices, political meetings, and friends.” said Kade Crockford, Director of the Technology for Liberty Project of the ACLU of Massachusetts. “We need legal protections to limit the collection, retention and sharing of our travel information, and we need these rules right away.”
More information about the requests is available at: aclu.org/plates
###
Micah McCoy
Communications Manager
ACLU of New Mexico
Office: (505) 266-5915 Ext. 1003
Mobile: (972) 740-6675
--
/s Peter St. Cyr
(505) 319-3237
http://about.me/peterstcyr
From: Tom Johnson <t...@jtjohnson.com>
Date: Fri, Aug 10, 2012 at 3:12 PM
Subject: Events in time and space
To: NICAR-L <NIC...@po.missouri.edu>, IRE-L <IR...@lists.missouri.edu>, jag...@yahoogroups.com
All:
I just watched a webinar now on YouTube called "GeoTime Webinar: Using Location Data - Fusion and Exploitation" by a company called Oculus .
The product is aimed at law enforcement, I think, but it turned me on to an interesting technology I wasn't familiar with, ALPR -- automatic license plate recognition. This must be the technology used to grab drivers running red lights, but this presentation suggests that ALPR may be used much more broadly in major metro areas. This would suggest that (a) there might be stories to be done on how gov't. owned vehicles are being used and (b) when we do any FOIA requests, we might also consider including requests for ALPR data.
Oculus also does some nifty stuff in terms of presenting the location data that could be worth thinking about. All in all, the 20+ minute presentation might fire up some neurons of creativity.
Have a good weekend,
tom johnson
--
J. T. Johnson
Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA
505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h)
Twitter: jtjohnson
/s Peter St. Cyr
(505) 319-3237
http://about.me/peterstcyr
--
J. T. Johnson
Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA
505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h)
Twitter: jtjohnson
Gary Lee Nelson
<image003.jpg>
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Santa Fe Complex "discuss" group.
To post to this group, send email to dis...@sfcomplex.org
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
discuss+u...@sfcomplex.org
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/a/sfcomplex.org/group/discuss
Steve Smith
��� http://www.naimark.net/projects/zap/howto.html
My version might be to put a double-blind payout on the cams and offer a small bounty on each camera demonstrated to be freshly paintballed or hooded.�� Temporary measures (not as temporary as Naimark's Laser-Dazzle)... a nuisance more than anything...� teens and maybe the homeless or other folks with more time and access to the cams would pick up some extra cash... etc.
Here's a tech challenge - add-ons to the radar detector.
- a camera that scans speed limit signs- speed limit is compared with your current speed- if you are over the limit your license plate number is blurred or scrambled
and...
- a circulating camera (ala GoogleEarth) on your car roof connected to- software that recognizes the shape of the license plate camera mounts- if a mount is detected your license plate number is blurred or scrambled
Gary
On Aug 11, 2012, at 1:33 AM, Tom Johnson wrote:
Bruce:
It ain't just in Colorado.
-tj
This is what the ACLU thinks about the license plate tracking.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Micah McCoy <mmc...@aclu-nm.org>
Date: Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 11:55 AM
Subject: PRESS RELEASE: ACLU Seeks Details on Automatic License Plate Readers in Massive Nationwide Request
To: mmc...@aclu-nm.org
ACLU Seeks Details on Automatic License Plate Readers in Massive Nationwide Request
DEA Confirms License Plate Readers Already in Use in New Mexico
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 30, 2012CONTACT: Micah McCoy, (505) 266-5915 x1003 or mmc...@aclu-nm.org
NEW YORK �American Civil Liberties Union affiliates in 38 states, including New Mexico, sent requests today to local police departments and state agencies that demand information on how they use automatic license plate readers (ALPR) to track and record Americans� movements. The DEA has already confirmed that these devices are currently deployed in New Mexico.
In addition, the ACLU and the ACLU of Massachusetts filed federal Freedom of Information Act requests with the departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Transportation to learn how the federal government funds ALPR expansion nationwide and uses the technology itself.
ALPRs are cameras mounted on patrol cars or on stationary objects along roads � such as telephone poles or the underside of bridges � that snap a photograph of every license plate that enters their fields of view. Typically, each photo is time, date, and GPS-stamped, stored, and sent to a database, which provides an alert to a patrol officer whenever a match or �hit� appears.
�Automatic license plate readers make it possible for the police to track our location whenever we drive our cars and to store that information forever,� said Catherine Crump, staff attorney with the ACLU�s Speech, Privacy & Technology Project. �The American people have a right to know whether our police departments are using these tools in a limited and responsible manner, or whether they are keeping records of our movements for months or years for no good reason.�
ALPRs are spreading rapidly around the country, but the public has little information about how they are used to track motorists� movements, including how long data collected by ALPRs is stored, and whether local police departments pool this information in state, regional or national databases. If ALPRs are being used as a tool for mass routine location tracking and surveillance and to collect and store information not just on people suspected of crimes, but on every single motorist, the American people should know that so that they can voice their concerns.
ALPRs have already proven controversial. Just last month the Drug Enforcement Administration withdrew its request to install ALPRs along certain portions of Interstate 15 in Utah after they were met with resistance by local lawmakers.
�Tracking and recording people�s movements raises serious privacy concerns, because where we go can reveal a great deal about us, including visits to doctor�s offices, political meetings, and friends.� said Kade Crockford, Director of the Technology for Liberty Project of the ACLU of Massachusetts. �We need legal protections to limit the collection, retention and sharing of our travel information, and we need these rules right away.�
More information about the requests is available at: aclu.org/plates
�
###
�
�
Micah McCoy
Communications Manager
ACLU of New Mexico
�
�
�<image003.jpg>
�
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tom Johnson <t...@jtjohnson.com>
Date: Fri, Aug 10, 2012 at 3:12 PM
Subject: Events in time and space
To: NICAR-L <NIC...@po.missouri.edu>, IRE-L <IR...@lists.missouri.edu>, jag...@yahoogroups.com
All:
I just watched a webinar now on YouTube called "GeoTime Webinar: Using Location Data - Fusion and Exploitation" by a company called Oculus .
The product is aimed at law enforcement, I think, but it turned me on to an interesting technology I wasn't familiar with, ALPR -- automatic license plate recognition.� This must be the technology used to grab drivers running red lights, but this presentation suggests that ALPR may be used much more broadly in major metro areas.� This would suggest that (a) there might be stories to be done on how gov't. owned vehicles are being used and (b) when we do any FOIA requests, we might also consider including requests for ALPR data.
Oculus also does some nifty stuff in terms of presenting the location data that could be worth thinking about.� All in all, the 20+ minute presentation might fire up some neurons of creativity.
Have a good weekend,
tom johnson
--
==========================================
J. T. Johnson
Institute for Analytic Journalism � -- � Santa Fe, NM USA
505.577.6482(c)� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 505.473.9646(h)
Twitter: jtjohnsonhttp://www.jtjohnson.com� � � � � �� � �� t...@jtjohnson.com
==========================================
--
/s Peter St. Cyr
(505) 319-3237
http://about.me/peterstcyr
--
==========================================
J. T. Johnson
Institute for Analytic Journalism � -- � Santa Fe, NM USA
505.577.6482(c)� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 505.473.9646(h)
Twitter: jtjohnsonhttp://www.jtjohnson.com� � � � � �� � �� t...@jtjohnson.com
==========================================
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Santa Fe Complex "discuss" group.
To post to this group, send email to dis...@sfcomplex.org
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
discuss+u...@sfcomplex.org
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/a/sfcomplex.org/group/discuss
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Santa Fe Complex "discuss" group.
To post to this group, send email to dis...@sfcomplex.org
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
discuss+u...@sfcomplex.org
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/a/sfcomplex.org/group/discuss
-- Los Alamos Visualization Associates LAVA-Synergy 4200 W. Jemez rd Los Alamos, NM 87544 www.lava3d.com s...@lava3d.com 505-920-0252