Committees in 2 states passed bills that would put limitations on the storage and sharing of information collected by automated license plate readers (ALPRs) and place significant roadblocks in the way of a federal license plate tracking program too.

Yesterday, a Missouri Senate committee passed a bill that would put limitations on the storage and sharing of information collected by automated license plate readers and place significant roadblocks in the way of a federal license plate tracking program.

A similar bill passed an Oklahoma House subcommittee last week.

The federal government, via the Drug Enforcement Agency, tracks the location of millions of cars through pictures of license plates. Theyā€™ve been doing this without a warrant or public notice for over 8 years.

State and local law enforcement agencies operate most ALPRs, paid for by federal grant money. The DEA then taps into the local database to track the location of millions.

Since a majority of federal license plate tracking data comes from local law enforcement, passage of these bills would take a major step toward blocking that program from continuing in Missouri and Oklahoma. The feds canā€™t access data that doesnā€™t exist.

Michael Boldin