Just so that everyone is clear, this is not a program confined to L.A. There's quite a few private firms that are collecting data who have sold it or are looking to sell it to anyone interested. You'll hear the argument "if you're out in public, you're susceptible to being recorded", but I feel like at some point we need to decide as a democracy where to draw the line.
When I was a kid, my cousin and I used to stand at my bedroom window with notebooks, and record details of every pedestrian and car that drove by. Should it be illegal to do the same with my PC? Or should there only be restrictions placed on the use of that data? I'm pretty comfortable with restrictions on the use of the data, but I don't know where I stand on the collection.
Technology is evolving faster than most of the populace is able to understand, much less find the time for any kind of discussion. This is a primary example of such an issue. I can honestly tell you that I don't know exactly where I stand on the collection either, and I couldn't tell you the details I'd like to see implemented for controlling the data distribution. What I know, without question, is that the total lack of attention, understanding, and regulation on the subject currently is not optimal.
I live in LA. My parents were going out of town when I was in college so they had a close friend, who lives in the valley, stay and watch the house. He drives a beat up '96 camry. Good guy, never been in trouble, just happens to live in the valley and drive a car that isn't a detailed BMW. He was parked in the driveway for the first half of the week. One day, he went and ran a few errands, and came back. As he was about to pull into the driveway, they pulled him over. They had run his license plate a couple days prior and had been keeping an eye on him to see what he was doing in such a nice part of town and so far from home. They took him out of the car and, unsatisfied with his responses, searched the car on suspicion of burglary and detained him for an hour until they finally decided to call my parents. My parents confirmed his story. They told him to be careful and left. You wanna know what crimes happen in my parent's neighborhood? Car break-ins. GPS thefts. iPod thefts. Occasionally a house gets TPd. Sometimes a bike or surfboard is stolen from an open garage. You know who's doing these thefts? Kids from the town. Not middle-aged camry driving men from the valley. I realize this isn't the case with every area of Los Angeles. But seriously, I don't see how this is going to help solve or reduce the number of crimes.
these are questions that should have been publicly addressed long before any form of Automated License Plate Reader System was ever installed, anywhere. Since they have been installed, and since the drug culture remains a clandestine, recreational avenue generating an increase in our entire culture of surveillance and counter surveillance
there can be no doubt, an exploration of the interconnectivity between humans that facilitates the movement of goods, services, money, information, and dare I say it? . . . complete with their own ear pulling tee shirts
and mind numbing iconography
could remain an ongoing investigation that might last decades . . . . . . emotion . . . who ever would have thought the tools of Complex Systems Analysis
would have a negative impact on our privacy . . .