Posted on 01/26/2015 9:29:15 PM PST by Nachum
The U.S. Department of Justice secretly spies on millions of cars by gathering and storing information about motorists in order to build a national database to track movements, according to a new report in the Wall Street Journal.
The database was originally used by the Drug Enforcement Administration to hunt vehicles involved in drug crimes by tracking license plates, but according to the WSJ, the program expanded to hunt for criminals sought for crimes that were non-drug related.
DEA officials have been on record saying they track vehicles near the U.S.-Mexico border to help fight drug cartels, but the new revelations, according to the WSJ, show that the DoJ has been working for years to expand the database “throughout the United States.”
As a result of the expansion, state and local law enforcement officials now have access to a “wealth of information” to track motorist in real time.
These new revelations, of course, add to the ongoing public debate about the size and scope of the government’s surveillance programs and whether they infringe on privacy and civil liberties.
Maryland, which allows no transportation of firearms within the state with few exceptions, scans out of state plates and cross checks with CCW licenses, hoping a stop will turn up a firearm being legally transported through the state, federal law allows this, in violation of their local laws. Not in trunk. Firearm or ammunition not in separate locked container, things like that.
Black boxes, cameras, microphones, cell phones....sounds like damn good reasons not to have the “latest greatest” version of everything.
hmmmmm
Thanks for the ping!
Wave or text your appointed NSA snoop every morning.
Howdy, NSA dude!
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