We could all be tracked-Cops test license-plate cameras that store, trace data[OR]

Portland Tribune ^ | 09 Oct 2008 | Jim Redden

[BGHater]

“Who knows how this information will be used in the future?” Carson said. “What policies are going to be in place to protect people from being abused? Once your privacy’s been invaded, there’s little you can do about it.”

Lol. Ya think?

[DemonDeac]

An Orwellian world is coming. Many people swallow this sort of thing when it is being pitched as being for their safety or security. Not me. I’m terrified of a state that tracks our every movement and action. There is no way that that power would not end up being horrible abused.

[TLI]

All such license plate camera systems work the same way. They use infrared rays to illuminate the reflectorized fronts of license plates, allowing the contrasting numbers and letters to be identified and photographed. The technology even works at night and in the rain.

I wonder how well it works through dried up mud?

[Past Your Eyes]

"It can reach back in time and track your movements across the city"

Like I needed another reason not to live in a city.

[az_gila]

Just wait until the divorce lawyers in Portland demand access to the data...:^)

[null and void]

the police promise they will only use it to solve crimes, like finding stolen cars or locating wanted criminals.

Or keeping track of anyone who attended a political rally, or parked within two blocks of a porn shop, or has ever visited a gun club, or a Synagog.

Anyone who drove by a crime scene, or on any road leading away from a crime scene can reasonably expect the police to do due diligence and interview them.

[BGHater]

Police Chief: Lets monitor everyone at the shooting range today, GOA/NRA meetings, anti-abortion rallies, rallies for less Gov’t...etc.

[sionnsar]

the police promise they will only use it to solve crimes, like finding stolen cars or locating wanted criminals.

What what guarantees back such a "promise"? None.

[downtownconservative]

“...the police promise they will only use it to solve crimes, like finding stolen cars or locating wanted criminals”

Yup! Like the “wanted criminals” who dare say politically incorrect things about the political leaders. Big brother is never your friend.

[BallyBill]

Is it reasonable to expect privacy on a public street?

[Salvation]

Bump

[CE2949BB]

Police Chief: Lets monitor everyone at the shooting range today, GOA/NRA meetings, anti-abortion rallies, rallies for less Gov’t...etc.

Why would you need a gun, brother? Who are you going to shoot?

Why would you associate with hate groups, brother?

Why would you protest a woman's choice, brother? You don't have a right to tell her what to do with her body.

Why would you want to take away the jobs of hard-working Americans, brother? Government workers have a right to work and support their families, brother.

---

In all seriousness: we're screwed.

[Westlander]

Note to self - Use public transportation to visit mistress.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

Is it reasonable to expect privacy on a public street?

Yes

[George Smiley]

"It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself--anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face...; was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime..."

- George Orwell, 1984, Book 1, Chapter 5

[driftdiver]

The same ones used in New Orleans when the “didn’t” illegally confiscate personally owned firearms during a natural disaster and complete breakdown of law.

[George Smiley]

Look at the UK if you want to see where this leads:

They’ve got cameras pretty much everywhere.

And what happened?

All the kids wear hoodies to protect their privacy.

“If hoodies are outlawed...”

You get the picture.

[driftdiver]

Combine this with efforts of the DHS to identify dangerous people based on body language and you have a scary place.

[DBrow]

They do this in the UK already.

But, the police PROMISED they’d only go after stolen plates and “wanted criminals”.

It’s not like they’d use it to track people who post “Barack Hussain Obama is a murtad fitri” or send out flyers with that sentence in them.

hee hee hee, wanted by whom, and for what?

[Wonder Warthog]

"Note to self - Use public transportation to visit mistress."

I doubt that that would do any good. Look for interior cameras in all "mass transit", linked to facial recognition software. To "prevent crime", y'know---it would NEVER be misused by the "powers that be".