Tracking vehicles across state lines

submited by

Style Pass

2024-04-01 22:30:02

As the number of women traveling across state lines to obtain abortions continues to grow (analysis of trends, statistics and map), recent reports have confirmed the reality of some of the ways we feared that motorists traveling for these or other purposes can be identified and tracked.

The ACLU of Northern California and Bob Egelko of the San Francisco Chronicle have reported that, despite a directive from the California Attorney General forbidding California state and local government agencies from sharing automated license plate recognition (ALPR) data with out-of-state entities, police in some California cities are continuing to share this location data with out-of-state police and/or interstate data brokers.

The order from the Attorney General was specifically intended to prevent other states from using ALPR data from California to identity or take action against abortion travelers.

Even if California police bring their practices into compliance with state law and the state Attorney General’s directive, that won’t stop police in other states from buying ALPR data collected by private entities in California — the owner or operator of a parking garage across from an abortion clinic, for example — and aggregated and resold by commercial data brokerages.