Even the FBI Had Concerns About License Plate Readers
An Alexandria Police Department squad car outfitted with a license plate scanner mounted to the trunk.
Photographer: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP PhotoLicense plate reading devices already have a notorious reputation among U.S. privacy activists. It turns out that even Federal Bureau of Investigation officials have concerns about how license plate readers could violate constitutional protections.
Newly released documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union indicate a debate within the FBI over the legality of collecting license plate data. A heavily redacted e-mail written by a senior vice president at Elsag North America, a major producer of the devices, indicates that the Office of General Counsel—or OGC, an internal legal advisory division within the FBI—"is still wrestling with [license plate recognition] privacy issues." The executive notes that the FBI at that time had "stopped [the bureau's] purchase" of the cameras "based on advice from the OGC."