"Capitalizing on one of the fastest-growing trends in law enforcement, a private company in Livermore has compiled a database bulging with more than 550 million bits of information that let police know when and where specific license plates of both innocent and criminal drivers were spotted. The technology has raised alarms among civil libertarians, who say it threatens the privacy of drivers. It's also evidence that 21st century technology may be evolving too quickly for the courts and public opinion to keep up. The U.S. Supreme Court is only now addressing whether investigators can secretly attach a GPS monitoring device to cars without a warrant. A ruling in that case has yet to be handed down, but a telling exchange occurred during oral arguments. Chief Justice John Roberts asked lawyers for the government if even he and other members of the court could feasibly be tracked by GPS without a warrant. Yes, came the answer. At the same time, police around the country have been affixing high-tech scanners to the exterior of their patrol cars, snapping a picture of every passing license plate and automatically comparing them to databases of outstanding warrants, stolen cars and wanted bank robbers. The units work by sounding an in-car alert if the scanner comes across a license plate of interest to police, whereas before, patrol officers generally needed some reason to take an interest in the vehicle, like a traffic violation. But when a license plate is scanned, the driver's geographic location is also recorded and saved, along with the date and time, each of which amounts to a record or data point. Such data collection occurs regardless of whether the driver is a wanted criminal, and the vast majority are not." - Anne Bouey from Bookmarklet

Not like. :( - Mathew A. Koeneker

This is disturbing. I know a few people who had cops plant monitoring devices on their car. One friend just stopped driving her car. She assumes that her political activities with he Muslim Student Union at her college got her in trouble. A few years ago, one (Middle Eastern) guy watched them plant it from his office. When he removed it, they showed up at his house asking for it back. They wouldn't tell him why they planted it and he wouldn't give it back, so they arrested him. || ETA: Trying to find the news story for the last one. - Anika

:( - Anne Bouey

This is disturbing. - Kelli H., FF Squatter from Android