With no warrant requirements, limited guardrails, and deficient audit processes, ALPR databases have fostered a culture of unrestricted access to everyone’s location information. This culture of abuse has allowed police to treat a mass surveillance network like their own personal search engine, permitting the tracking of the movements of everyday citizens for low-level complaints, personal whims, and sometimes, seemingly, for the lols.
It’s just demonstrating that the “reason for search” field for accountability actually has zero accountability. This should be tied to the identity of the person filling the field and mockery of procedure should be grounds for demotion and/or loss of access, but we know that neither is the actual way things run.
Private companies aren’t restricted by the Constitution, so they’re not on the hook. Police are just using a private service, so the department isn’t on the hook either
So really, it’s no one’s responsibility to make sure this isn’t abused. That’s what we have to fix
It’s just demonstrating that the “reason for search” field for accountability actually has zero accountability. This should be tied to the identity of the person filling the field and mockery of procedure should be grounds for demotion and/or loss of access, but we know that neither is the actual way things run.
It’s because of dilution of responsibility.
Private companies aren’t restricted by the Constitution, so they’re not on the hook. Police are just using a private service, so the department isn’t on the hook either
So really, it’s no one’s responsibility to make sure this isn’t abused. That’s what we have to fix