Houston has been experimenting with license plate scanners mounted on patrol cars for several years. The primary application has been spotting stolen cars and vehicles with warrants or outstanding traffic violations. License plate data are processed in real time by an in-car computer to identify target vehicles.
The main problems have been some issues with plate recognition errors and the cost of the recognition systems. But over time errors have gone down and so has the cost. On 10/13/2012 3:11 PM, Monty Solomon wrote: > WHAT THEY KNOW > > New Tracking Frontier: Your License Plates > > By JULIA ANGWIN and JENNIFER VALENTINO-DEVRIES > October 13, 2012 > > For more than two years, the police in San Leandro, Calif., > photographed Mike Katz-Lacabe's Toyota Tercel almost weekly. They > have shots of it cruising along Estudillo Avenue near the library, > parked at his friend's house and near a coffee shop he likes. In one > case, they snapped a photo of him and his two daughters getting out > of a car in his driveway. > > Mr. Katz-Lacabe isn't charged with, or suspected of, any crime. Local > police are tracking his vehicle automatically, using cameras mounted > on a patrol car that record every nearby vehicle-license plate, time > and location. > > "Why are they keeping all this data?" says Mr. Katz-Lacabe, who > obtained the photos of his car through a public-records request. > "I've done nothing wrong." > > Until recently it was far too expensive for police to track the > locations of innocent people such as Mr. Katz-Lacabe. But as > surveillance technologies decline in cost and grow in sophistication, > police are rapidly adopting them. Private companies are joining, too. > At least two start-up companies, both founded by "repo > men"-specialists in repossessing cars or property from deadbeats-are > currently deploying camera-equipped cars nationwide to photograph > people's license plates, hoping to profit from the data they collect. > > The rise of license-plate tracking is a case study in how storing and > studying people's everyday activities, even the seemingly mundane, > has become the default rather than the exception. Cellphone-location > data, online searches, credit-card purchases, social-network comments > and more are gathered, mixed-and-matched, and stored in vast > databases. > > ... > > http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443995604578004723603576296.html > > _______________________________________________ > > Please be sure to include a URL to the article. Reply to the sender with a > "Thank you" if you like this post. > _______________________________________________ > Medianews mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews > _______________________________________________ Please be sure to include a URL to the article. Reply to the sender with a "Thank you" if you like this post. _______________________________________________ Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
