SACRAMENTO, Calif. (May 19, 2023) – Yesterday, a third California Assembly committee passed a bill that would further limit the storage and sharing of information collected by Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) in the state. The proposed law would also place significant roadblocks in the way of a federal program using states to help track the location of millions of everyday people through pictures of their license plates.

Asm. Josh Lowenthal introduced Assembly Bill 1463 (AB1463) on Feb. 17. Under current law, police can only retain ALPR data for 60 days unless it is being used as evidence or for the investigation of felonies. AB1463 would limit ALPR data retention to 30 days unless it matches the information on a hot list. AB1463 would also prohibit ALPR information from being sold, shared, or transferred to an out-of-state or federal agency without a court order or warrant issued by a California court.

AB1463 includes provisions that would expand annual audit requirements to review and assess ALPR end-user searches during the previous year to determine compliance with the usage and privacy policy, as specified.

On May 18, the Assembly Appropriations Committee passed AB1463 by an 11-4 vote.

Oakland Privacy, a grassroots organization fighting government surveillance, pointed out that ALPR cameras are in ubiquitous use in California.

“Billions of scans are in privately held cloud storage databases and retained for an average of a year and sometimes as long as five years. The cloud databases can share the geolocation data with thousands of law enforcement agencies across the country, including those in states with current and pending bans on reproductive medical care as well as federal immigration enforcement.”

The enactment of AB1463 would limit the retention and sharing of this data, and help prevent it from entering into permanent federal databases.

IMPACT ON FEDERAL PROGRAMS

As reported in the Wall Street Journal, the federal government, via the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), tracks the location of millions of vehicles through data provided by ALPRs operated on a state and local level. They’ve engaged in this for nearly a decade, all without a warrant, or even public notice of the policy.

State and local law enforcement agencies operate most of these tracking systems, paid for by federal grant money. The DEA then taps into the local database to track the whereabouts of millions of people – for the “crime” of driving – without having to operate a huge network itself.

ALPRs can scan, capture and record thousands of license plates every minute and store them in massive databases, along with date, time and location information.

Records obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) through open records requests encompassed information compiled by 200 law enforcement agencies that utilize ALPRs. The data revealed more than 2.5 billion license plate scans in just two years (2016 and 2017).

Perhaps more concerning, this gigantic sample of license plate scans reveals that 99.5 percent of this data was collected regardless of whether the vehicle or its owner were suspected of being involved in criminal activity. On average, agencies share this data with a minimum of 160 other agencies. In some cases, agencies share this data with as many as 800 other agencies.

Private companies contribute to the proliferation of ALPR databases. In late 2019, Rekor Systems announced that they had launched the Rekor Public Safety Network (RPSN) which gives law enforcement real-time access to license plates.

“Any state or local law enforcement agency participating in the RPSN will be able to access real-time data from any part of the network at no cost. The Company is initially launching the network by aggregating vehicle data from customers in over 30 states. With thousands of automatic license plate reading cameras currently in service that capture approximately 150 million plate reads per month, the network is expected to be live by the first quarter of 2020.”

Police generally configure ALPRs to store the photograph, the license plate number, and the date, time, and location of a vehicle’s license plate, which is bad enough. But according to records obtained by the ACLU via a Freedom of Information Act request, these systems also capture photographs of drivers and their passengers.

With the FBI rolling out a nationwide facial-recognition program in the fall of 2014, and the federal government building a giant biometric database with pictures provided by the states and corporate friends, the feds can potentially access stored photographs of drivers and passengers, along with detailed data revealing their location and activities. With this kind of information, government agents can easily find individuals without warrants or oversight, for any reason whatsoever.

Since a majority of federal license plate tracking data comes from state and local law enforcement, laws banning or even restricting ALPR use are essential. As more states pass such laws, the end result becomes more clear. No data equals no federal license plate tracking program.

Passage of AB1463 would take another step toward putting a dent in federal plans to continue location tracking and expanding its facial recognition program. The less data that states make available to the federal government, the less ability it has to track people in California and elsewhere.

WHAT’S NEXT

AB1463 will next move to the full Assembly for debate and a vote.

Mike Maharrey