ICE License-Plate Tracking Plan Withdrawn Amid Outcry About Privacy 152
An anonymous reader writes "Homeland security officials on Wednesday abruptly shelved a proposal to build a national database of license-plate scans after criticism from privacy advocates. The proposal, which had been posted online last week by the office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, sought a contractor who could establish a searchable database of license plates, with the times and locations where they were spotted by traffic cameras and other sources. But in a statement late Wednesday, the department announced a reversal. 'The solicitation, which was posted without the awareness of ICE leadership, has been canceled,' said spokeswoman Gillian Christensen. 'While we continue to support a range of technologies to help meet our law enforcement mission, this solicitation will be reviewed to ensure the path forward appropriately meets our operational needs.'"
Withdrawn (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Withdrawn (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Driving is a privelege, not a right. (Score:5, Insightful)
Driving may be a priveledge. Privacy is a right.
The former can be used to infringe upon the latter.
Re:Driving is a privelege, not a right. (Score:2, Insightful)
It is a right to be able to move freely from point A to point B without being tracked. It is a privilege to be able to drive between those points instead of having to walk or ride horseback. The privilege of driving does not negate the right to privacy because of the mode of transportation.
Lessons of trust (Score:5, Insightful)
If one thing the Edward Snowden releases have shown, is if the authorities are telling you they plan to do something, they are probably already doing it.
Re:Driving is a privelege, not a right. (Score:5, Insightful)
The false equivalence between tracking someone's location while they are in public and illegal search and seizure makes your comment hardly worth replying to.
It's not false equivalence, it's perfectly in line with the SCOTUS ruling that "tracking someone's location" constitutes a search. [washingtonpost.com]
Are you suggesting that when you are in a public park, being filmed by security cameras is a violation of your 4th amendment rights?
Now, you want to talk about false equivalence...
Re:Duh - Not Private (Score:5, Insightful)
So just what element is private about a plate openly displayed in public
What's private is the history of where that plate has been - tracking a person's car without a warrant is illegal, per the SCOTUS. [washingtonpost.com]
Shit, man, in these days of parallel construction [wikipedia.org] it amazes me I have to respond to questions like this...
An alternate suggestion, much cheaper to implement (Score:5, Insightful)
They are easy to spot for goodness sake, no need for tracking license plates.
Re:Driving is a privelege, not a right. (Score:4, Insightful)
No, it a very well thought out document that very much defines the social contract and legal framework in the United States of America. To ignore it is to say that the law is whatever anyone says it is. For you liberals that like things as hey are now, wait a few years and "anyone" might be extremely ruthless and dislike liberals very much. If the constitution is simply "a stupid piece of paper" and means nothing, then said ruthless person could actually kill all liberals with no consequences until someone even more ruthless steps up.
What a moronic statement.