We know where you've been: Ars acquires 4.6M license plate scans from the cops [View all]
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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 youve 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 Statesperhaps 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 oftenbut not alwaysmake educated guesses about a targets home or workplace, particularly when someones 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/