This stinks.
We need some laws to prevent private and public agencies from keeping these records.
Lol. The UK is gonna keep ALL records for 5yrs.
UK police ANPR will read 50 million license plates a day
The UK is in the final stages of expanding vehicle surveillance that will allow police to record and store details of 50 million licence plates a day, enabling officers to reconstruct the journeys of motorists. Not only that, the data will be stored for up to five years and will be used during investigations ranging from counter-terrorism to low-level crime.
In 2005 the UK government invested some US$57 million to develop an ANPR data-sharing programme after police concluded that road traffic cameras could be integrated into mainstream policing, even for everyday criminal investigations. Local authorities have adapted their CCTV systems to capture licence plates on behalf of police, massively expanding the network of available cameras, while mobile cameras have been installed in patrol cars and unmarked vehicles parked by the side of roads. So far, half of all police forces in England and Wales have now been connected to the network and using the system to read and record up to 10 million licence plates a day.
However, by the end of the year, when the nationwide network of cameras is fully operational, the National ANPR Data Centre in North London will be able to record up to 50 million licence plates a day. The database will have the capacity to store as many as 18 billion licence plate sightings in 2009.
Although senior police officers claimed the number plates would only be stored for two years, following enquiries under the Freedom of Information Act, the UK Home Office has now admitted the data will be kept for five years.
Privacy International, the human rights group, described the five-year record of people’s car journeys ‘unnecessary and disproportionate’. It has lodged an official complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office, the data watchdog. According to a statement, the ICO said it would take up the matter and would be contacting police to discuss the five-year data retention period.
http://www.itsinternational.com/news/article.cfm?recordID=13845