If you drive through many cities or towns in Rhode Island, your car could be recorded by roughly 300 automated license plate reader cameras (ALPRs) across the state. These cameras are quietly collecting a log of data points about where you go and what you do.
Despite their name, ALPRs don’t just photograph your license plate during traffic violations. Instead, these systems take photos 24/7, making a record of every vehicle that has passed by. What is even more invasive is that the collected data is fed into a nationwide data-sharing network that can be accessed by local and federal law enforcement agencies across the country. And the cameras don’t photograph just license plates; the system even allows agencies to search by car details as specific as bumper stickers.
Location data can be uniquely revealing. Your driving pattern exposes where you live, work, attend religious services, go to political protests, or seek medical care. Creating a log of this information for everyone who lives in or visits our state is particularly troubling as law enforcement agencies in other states, making use of the system’s nationwide connections, have used the Flock Safety system to aid in federal immigration enforcement and even to track a Texas woman suspected of having an abortion out of state…