VICTORY! California Department of Justice Declares Out-of-State Sharing of License Plate Data Unlawful

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California Attorney General Rob Bonta has issued a legal interpretation and guidance for law enforcement agencies around the state that confirms what privacy advocates have been saying for years: It is against the law for police to share data collected from license plate readers with out-of-state or federal agencies. This is an important victory for immigrants, abortion seekers, protesters, and everyone else who drives a car, as our movements expose intimate details about where we’ve been and what we’ve been doing.

Automated license plate readers (ALPRs) are cameras that capture the movements of vehicles and upload the location of the vehicles to a searchable, shareable database. Law enforcement often installs these devices on fixed locations, such as street lights, as well as on patrol vehicles that are used to canvass neighborhoods. It is a mass surveillance technology that collects data on everyone. In fact, EFF research has found that more than 99.9% of the data collected is unconnected to any crime or other public safety interest.

The California State legislature passed SB 34 in 2015 to require basic safeguards for the use of ALPRs. These include a prohibition on California agencies from sharing data with non-California agencies. They also include the publication of a usage policy that is consistent with civil liberties and privacy.

As EFF and other groups such as the ACLU of California and the Center for Human Rights and Privacy

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