ALPR surveillance – Car License Tag Spying


The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety quietly embarks on an Orwellian mass-surveillance program to catalog the habits of drivers. Amassing permanent databases of citizens on the roads, Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) is being justified as a way to identify uninsured motorists or stolen vehicles, yet the lack of laws governing its abuse could have a chilling effect on privacy and free speech. Besides automated ticketing and revenue collection, Police have also used ALPR as intelligence-gathering tools to spy on groups ranging from gang members to journalists. In one case a policeman seeking revenge against a reporter was caught stalking using an ALPR database in Edmonton, in a police corruption scandal that eventually cost the chief his job.