And Speaking of MA and Freedom (Or Lack Thereof)...

Stretch sends in this lovely little story about a nice little abuse of power and technology, shockingly here in Massachusetts...

Lawyer: Cop scanner ‘crosses line’

Civil libertarians are raising the alarm over the state’s plans to create a Big Brother database that could map drivers’ whereabouts with police cruiser-mounted scanners that capture thousands of license plates per hour — storing that information indefinitely where local cops, staties, feds and prosecutors could access it as they choose.

“What kind of a society are we creating here?” asked civil rights lawyer Harvey Silverglate, who along with the ACLU fears police abuse. “There comes a point where the surveillance is so pervasive and total that it’s a misnomer to call a society free any longer.”

Two thoughts on the title, and then I'll get onto the article:

1. At first I thought they were outlawing the scanners that old people listen to for news of hoodlums, speeders, and other lawbreakers in their town. I remember my grandfather listening to his scanner religiously...

2. I knew it was too much to hope that MA would be taking on the TSA scanners...

Now, the article... This is one of those "first pass" stories - at first pass, it doesn't sound all that bad, does it? I mean, cops are allowed to call in plates, right? They're out in the public domain, and we permit our police force to check on plates and such. What's the harm? As far as keeping records? Who's to say they can't keep records now? Personally, I think the more records like this they keep the better - nothing clogs a system up tight like far too much extraneous data...

Follow the Benjamins, though:

Some ALPR scanners already are deployed on Massachusetts roads. State police have two. Several cities use them for parking enforcement. Chelsea has four scanner-mounted cruisers.

(emphasis mine). BINGO. That's what it's all about right there - as this technology becomes more widespread, gaining begrudging acceptance, etc., more towns are going to see this as a fantastic revenue opportunity. Parking infractions, moving violations (I'd wager it's a trivial matter to record a specific plate and match it against known distances and calculate speed and, of course, fine), etc.; the opportunity to turn this technology into a bona fide cash cow will be far too tempting for cash-strapped towns.

So, we're basically granting carte blanche to our police forces to drive around all day recording licence plates. It's not enough that they already know where we live, where we work, etc.; now they want to know where we go for lunch? Are we going to have to explain our whereabouts if our plate is discovered in the dark side of town at 3AM? And isn't there something in some old musty parchment about no unreasonable search? I'd say this is pretty damn unreasonable...

I put this in the "MA Miracle" group, but this is hardly limited to MA. The first thing they're going to do with this technology is raise a dumptruck full of money through parking tickets and other civil infractions. Red light cameras have paved the way for municipalities to raise money by simply using cameras to record lawbreakers - there's already precedent - so this is just the natural progression of things. Once cities and towns realize what a goldmine this is, they'll fall over themselves ordering up the units - I applaud the manufacturer of this software for knowing their target demographic.

I just hope they get a parking ticket every single day until the end of time...

That is all.