Tech Website Gets Access to 4.6 Million License Plate Scans

Last updated on: March 25, 2015 at 10:22 am by Thomas L. McDonald

Tech Website Gets Access to 4.6 Million License Plate Scans 2015-03-25T10:22:11-04:00 Thomas L. McDonald

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If you drive in Oakland, California, Ars Technica knows where you’ve been:

In response to a public records request, we obtained the entire LPR dataset of the Oakland Police Department (OPD), including more than 4.6 million reads of over 1.1 million unique plates between December 23, 2010 and May 31, 2014. The dataset is likely one of the largest ever publicly released in the United States—perhaps in the world.

After analyzing this data with a custom-built visualization tool, Ars can definitively demonstrate the data’s revelatory potential. Anyone in possession of enough data can often—but not always—make educated guesses about a target’s home or workplace, particularly when someone’s movements are consistent (as with a regular commute).

The article is long, detailed, and chilling to anyone concerned about privacy. Data is power, and being able to track a population’s movements gives the government, corporations, and individual citizens too much of it. Where you live, shop, worship, congregate, and sin are exposed on the very thin pretext of public safety.

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