I've got mixed feelings about this. It pisses me off that the data base exists, but since it does, I'm glad ICE is using it.


The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency now has access to a nationwide license plate recognition database comprising of billions of license plate data records.

ICE obtained access to what the agency described as a 'commercially available License Plate Reader database' after finalizing a contract with an unnamed provider in early January, The Verge reported.

Word that ICE has access to this system, which would allow agents to track a target's whereabouts and potential associates over the last five years via their car movements, has sparked civil liberty concerns.

'Like most other law enforcement agencies, ICE uses information obtained from license plate readers as one tool in support of its investigations,' an ICE spokesperson said in a statement obtained by The Verge.

The spokesperson added that ICE is not looking to create its own license plate reader database and 'will not collect nor contribute any data to a national public or private database through this contract' - meaning it's a one-way information street.

ICE confirmed to CNN that West Publishing (TRSS), in partnership with Vigilant Solutions, won the contract.

On Vigilant Solution's website, the company says that its license plate recognition system involves the use of both fixed and mobile cameras - similar to what local law enforcement use - which take pictures of license plates while noting date, time and GPS coordinates. The license plate images and associated data are then stored in a searchable database.

In addition, the company says that it 'Commercial Data' is collated from license plate captures taken from commercial applications including bridge cameras, tollbooths and car repossessions. Vigilant boasts that it offers up over five billion nationwide detections - instances where license plates were captured - and adds more than 150million new hits a month.

ICE agents would be able to tap into the database in two major ways.

Using a history search, they would be able to find every location where a particular license plate has been seen over the last five years, allowing agents to build a detailed account of where a targeted person routinely travels. This data could then be used to identify the person's home and even frequent associates.

In 2015, a privacy impact assessment report, commissioned by the US Department of Homeland Security, stated that: 'Knowing the previous locations of a vehicle can help determine the whereabouts of subjects of criminal investigations or priority aliens to facilitate their interdiction and removal.'

The report went on to say: 'In some cases, when other leads have gone cold, the availability of commercial LPR data may be the only viable way to find a subject.'

The privacy impact assessment was put together following ICE's cancelled 2014 attempt at gaining access to a license plate renegotiation database.

The second way ICE can use the newly-contracted database is to receive immediate email alerts anytime there's a new hit on a particular license plate in the system.

Experts worry that ICE's access to both historical information as well as instantaneous hit alerts will have a significant impact on the agency's deportation efforts now that it has broadened its efforts beyond criminals to general undocumented immigrants and the like.

Speaking with The Verge, senior policy analyst Jay Stanley, who studies the effect of license plate readers for the ACLU, wondered whether Americans were 'willing to let our government create an infrastructure that will track all of us' as a byproduct of the desire to deport undocumented people.

In a statement obtained by CNN, an ICE spokesperson pointed out that the agency doesn't just work on enforcing immigration issues, it also conducts criminal investigations.

Transnational crimes including gang activity, smuggling and the sale or importation of counterfeit goods is also under ICE's purview.

ICE's ability to use the license plate recognition system will have some limitations, though.

In addition to ICE not being able to add any of the plate or data it collects, the email license plate alerts will expire after a one year period. However, the system will maintain extensive user logs allowing ICE supervisors to track potential misuse of the system.



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...plate-movements.html

so when are we going to see some results?

quote:

Originally posted by olfuzzy:
I've got mixed feelings about this. It pisses me off that the data base exists, but since it does, I'm glad ICE is using it.

Same.

However, no one says you must use a car--specifically your own car--to travel around.

Well, it already existed, so might as well use it rather than reinvent the wheel. I'm good with this.

I'd bet that as many of those entries come from private entities (repo companies were one mentioned) as do government agencies.

I'm with you guys though...it's scary.

I don't like the idea but ATF has been using it for years at gun shows

so if ICE cannot point to any deportations with the use of this technology, then they should be forced to give it up

I would give them 6 months to demonstrate they are entitled to use it for its intended purpose

I can see some folks using it to locate hott chicks. Just sayin

I don't like the idea of anyone tracking my whereabouts for no good reason but I've just made up my mind that I'll take a cab whenever I go to the nudie bar or porn shop.

Border patrol has cameras at every checkpoint on both sides of the road. I’ve recently noticed truck weigh stations in Texas putting up those cameras right before every scalehouse. Scary just how tracked we really are.

I don't know about the other bridges but I know they have one on the bridge between Arkansas and Memphis. About a year ago they were looking for someone in Arkansas and it was on the local news that their tag was picked up by the reader on the bridge with the day and time they crossed.

quote:

Originally posted by roadkill:
Border patrol has cameras at every checkpoint on both sides of the road. I’ve recently noticed truck weigh stations in Texas putting up those cameras right before every scalehouse. Scary just how tracked we really are.

Smartphones already track where you're at, shopping, and other things. Newer vehicles are tracking you as well. Add license plate scanning to the list.

Funny how Washington state was good with nationwide license plate recognition database system for its state police. Along and other police depts and toll bridges gun shows ect for it own citizens. But is now having a cow, now that it will be used for illegal aliens also. Seems they can not stop it and are looking into to it for the illegal aliens sake.

Speaking as a former P.I., most people have no idea how little privacy they have.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

Originally posted by olfuzzy:
I've got mixed feelings about this. It pisses me off that the data base exists, but since it does, I'm glad ICE is using it.

Same.

However, no one says you must use a car--specifically your own car--to travel around.

I'm in the same boat, mixed feelings considering driving is a privilege and not a right.

Not real sure how this helps. I was going to ask... Are illegals telling the DMV they're illegal when they register their cars?

Instead I'll ask, when did illegals start registering their cars?

I DO NOT WANT ANYONE TO KNOW WHERE I LIVE!!!

quote:

Originally posted by chongosuerte:
I'd bet that as many of those entries come from private entities (repo companies were one mentioned) as do government agencies.

I'm with you guys though...it's scary.

You would be correct with regard to Repo and insurance companies. In fact that is what the system in question was originally designed for.

quote:

Originally posted by bryan11:

quote:

Originally posted by roadkill:
Border patrol has cameras at every checkpoint on both sides of the road. I’ve recently noticed truck weigh stations in Texas putting up those cameras right before every scalehouse. Scary just how tracked we really are.

Smartphones already track where you're at, shopping, and other things. Newer vehicles are tracking you as well. Add license plate scanning to the list.

In view of all the other technology that we've embraced, the license plate readers being discussed in this thread don't pass the "so what" test.

If you drive a newer model car, then you have your own private snitch riding with you in your dash reporting your exact location continuously.

If you have a cellular phone, every cell tower is a snitch. And if it's a modern cellular phone in your pocket, you're digitally located to within a meter continuously.

If you take a digital photo with a modern camera, the image carries with it embedded location data, along with time data. And any time you "share" that photo by posting it on FaceBook, for example, you give the world your location history.

Privacy ain't what it used to be, folks.

Thanks,

Sap

quote:

Originally posted by SapperSteel:

In view of all the other technology that we've embraced, the license plate readers being discussed in this thread don't pass the "so what" test.

If you drive a newer model car, then you have your own private snitch riding with you in your dash reporting your exact location continuously.

My car is only 3.5 years old but it doesn't have Satellite radio or Navigation. Can they still track that? It doesn't matter though, I'm taking a cab.

quote:

If you have a cellular phone, every cell tower is a snitch. And if it's a modern cellular phone in your pocket, you're digitally located to within a meter continuously.

I can turn my phone off when I go somewhere I don't want people to know about though. Can they still track that?

quote:

If you take a digital photo with a modern camera, the image carries with it embedded location data, along with time data. And any time you "share" that photo by posting it on FaceBook, for example, you give the world your location history.

I just won't take pictures outside the strip club or porn shop. I should be okay then, right?

quote:

Privacy ain't what it used to be, folks.

quote:

Originally posted by HCM:

You would be correct with regard to Repo and insurance companies. In fact that is what the system in question was originally designed for.

Repo companies I can understand. Insurance companies, I don't.