We know where you've been: Ars acquires 4.6M license plate scans from the cops

[Newsjock]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by NancyBlueINOklahoma (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Ars Technica

OAKLAND, Calif.—If you have driven in Oakland any time in the last few years, chances are good that the cops know where you’ve been, thanks to their 33 automated license plate readers (LPRs).

Now Ars knows too.

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 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).

Read more: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/03/we-know-where-youve-been-ars-acquires-4-6m-license-plate-scans-from-the-cops/

[George II]

1. Its estimated that a person in a major city is recorded on video something like 200 times a day...

...this is no revelation, and most don't care.

[cstanleytech]

2. Its not just cops using detectors mounted on cars repo companies in my area are doing it to

and they have a car driving up and down parking lots looking for any cars on that there is a repossession order out for.

[Cryptoad]

3. The Age of Privacy is Dead and Gone.......

Digital Age is driving[pi] a wooden stake thru its heart and I'm loving it.... Total and Absolute transparency is coming....... I'm loving it! No Secrets ,,, no Darkness!

[truebrit71]

4. Just about the only thing George Orwell got wrong was the year...

...

[FiveGoodMen]

5. I actually had a coworker tell me that he had intended to read 1984

but the year was already past, so he didn't bother.

I wonder if there's been a lot of that kind of thinking.

[OKNancy]

6. Sorry - locking

THis article is an analysis piece.. please repost in GD or Good reads. Thanks