Electronic Freedom FoundationBy Rindala AlajajiMay 30, 2025In a chilling sign of how far law enforcement surveillance has encroached on personal liberties, 404 Media recently revealed that a sheriff’s office in Texas searched data from more than 83,000 automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras to track down a woman suspected of self-managing an abortion. The officer searched 6,809 different camera networks maintained by surveillance tech company Flock Safety, including states where abortion access is protected by law, such as Washington and Illinois. The search record listed the reason plainly: “had an abortion, search for female.”[...]The post-Dobbs legal landscape has also opened the door for law enforcement to exploit virtually any form of data—license plates, phone records, geolocation data—to pursue individuals across state lines. EFF’s Atlas of Surveillance has documented more than 1,800 agencies have deployed ALPRs, but at least 4,000 agencies are able to run searches through some agencies in Flock's network. Many agencies share the data freely with other agencies across the country, with little oversight, restriction, or even standards for accessing data.While this particular data point explicitly mentioned an abortion, scores of others in the audit logs released through public records requests simply list "investigation" as the reason for the plate search, with no indication of the alleged offense. That means other searches targeting someone for abortion, or another protected right in that jurisdiction, could be effectively invisible.
Time writes that police are using the data illegally...
The data shared between agencies is extensive, advocates say. “The systems that didn’t talk to each other are talking to each other a lot more,” says Patrice Lawrence, executive director of the UndocuBlack Network. Federal authorities like ICE have access to a complex web of databases that glean data from a variety of sources including fingerprint data collected when someone is arrested.According to ICE‘s website, these data sharing programs enable the agency to work with “law enforcement partners in the shared responsibility for ensuring the safety of our communities” by “using biometrics to identify foreign-born individuals arrested for criminal offenses.”
That is the scary part, some states limit who can access the traffic cameras but the law is being ignored!
Civil Liberties Groups Urge Attorney General Bonta to Enforce California's Automated License Plate Reader LawsElectronic Freedom FoundationJanuary 31, 2024California Attorney General Rob Bonta should crack down on police agencies that still violate Californians’ privacy by sharing automated license plate reader information with out-of-state government agencies, putting abortion seekers and providers at particular risk, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the state’s American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) affiliates urged in a letter to Bonta today.In October 2023, Bonta issued a legal interpretation and guidance clarifying that a 2016 state law, SB 34, prohibits California’s local and state police from sharing information collected from automated license plate readers (ALPR) with out-of-state or federal agencies. However, despite the Attorney General’s definitive stance, dozens of law enforcement agencies have signaled their intent to continue defying the law.The EFF and ACLU letter lists 35 specific police agencies which either have informed the civil liberties organizations that they plan to keep sharing ALPR information with out-of-state law enforcement, or have failed to confirm their compliance with the law in response to inquiries by the organizations.
This is from 2023, the Sacramento Bee reported...
In 2015, Democratic Elk Grove Assemblyman Jim Cooper voted for Senate Bill 34, which restricted law enforcement from sharing automated license plate reader (ALPR) data with out-of-state authorities. In 2023, now-Sacramento County Sheriff Cooper appears to be doing just that. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) a digital rights group, has sent Cooper a letter requesting that the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office cease sharing ALPR data with out-of-state agencies that could use it to prosecute someone for seeking an abortion.According to documents that the Sheriff’s Office provided EFF through a public records request, it has shared license plate reader data with law enforcement agencies in states that have passed laws banning abortion, including Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas. Adam Schwartz, EFF senior staff attorney, called automated license plate readers “a growing threat to everyone’s privacy ... that are out there by the thousands in California.”
Here in Connecticut ALPR data has to be deleted after five years, but some agencies do not keep the data that long. The CT State Police only keeps it 90 days. However, there are no limits on who can see the data!
The era of Big Brother has arrived we are living in the age of "1984" where government rewrite history... the White House released this...
RESTORING TRUTH AND SANITY TO AMERICAN HISTORYExecutive OrdersMarch 27, 2025By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:Section 1. Purpose and Policy. Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth. This revisionist movement seeks to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light. Under this historical revision, our Nation’s unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed. Rather than fostering unity and a deeper understanding of our shared past, the widespread effort to rewrite history deepens societal divides and fosters a sense of national shame, disregarding the progress America has made and the ideals that continue to inspire millions around the globe.
This is what Newspeak is! This is what Fascism and authoritarianism looks like!
This is about abortion but it could just as easily be applied to us. Think about this. There are also reports of this technology being used against us. The website Stop Spying writes,
The road to reproductive and gender-affirming care is more surveilled than ever, as states like Idaho criminalize out of state travel for abortion care. In S.T.O.P.’s latest report, Roadblock To Care, we show how law enforcement can use travel surveillance infrastructure to attack bodily autonomy and evidence-based medical treatment.Before Dobbs, S.T.O.P. warned that police could leverage commercially available health data and other invasive monitoring to prosecute abortion seekers within states within their own borders. Now these attacks on abortion access and gender affirming care are poised to follow Americans across state lines. Alarmingly, the digital dragnet even extends to private cars, as onboard computers and roadside license plate readers turn our cars into tracking devices.
Big Brother is watching you!
And folks at Pride blow kisses to cops and welcome them with open arms. Strange as they are or can be part of the force of fascists. Oh, When will we ever learn?
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