(ConcernedPatriot.com) – By examining billions of license plate records, American law enforcement already uses AI-powered license plate recognition systems to find “suspicious” movement patterns.
However, this new technology has severe privacy and potential abuse issues.
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According to Forbes, AI is now assisting American law enforcement in identifying “suspicious” movement patterns by analyzing billions of license plate records.
This new technology brings up serious privacy and misuse problems.
One of the most significant applications of this technology to date was in a New York drug trafficking case.
Based on its travel patterns, the AI system highlighted a suspicious car driven by David Zayas.
According to Forbes reporter Thomas Brewster, “the AI determined that Zayas’ car was on a journey typical of a drug trafficker” after searching through a database of 1.6 billion license plate records gathered over the previous two years from places throughout New York State.
After the car was stopped, drugs, a gun, and a sizable amount of cash were allegedly found.
The Rekor-developed AI system can use 480 cameras to scan more than 16 million license plates per week. Additionally, vehicle information, including make, model, and color, is recorded.
The discussion over privacy rights and the possibility of abuse has, however, been spurred by this broad surveillance.
Ben Gold, the attorney for Zayas, argued against the AI’s evidence collection, calling it “dragnet surveillance.”
“Without judicial supervision,” he claimed, “this kind of system operates at the whim of every officer with access to it.”
“The system’s examination of every car captured by a camera,” according to Gold, “amounts to an “unprecedented search” and violates society’s legitimate expectation of privacy.”
At least 23 police departments and local governments in America have purchased Rekor’s technology.
Whether the cameras are controlled by the government, a firm, or a consumer, the company’s software can be placed in already installed cameras.
Additionally, it manages the Rekor Public Safety Network, an opt-in initiative that has been collecting client car location data for the past three years.
Technology for reading license plates is used outside of law enforcement.
Businesses like McDonald’s and White Castle have started utilizing the technology to provide customized drive-through experiences, identifying repeat customers and leveraging their previous orders to walk them through the ordering process or provide them with customized promotion offers.
However, privacy advocates are alarmed about the development of this technology. According to Brett Max Kaufman, senior staff attorney at the ACLU, the warrantless mass surveillance of Americans is “quite horrifying.”
He cautioned, “You’ve seen the systems totally metastasize to the point that the capabilities of a local police department would really shock most people.”
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