alt Hacker NewsThe problem is right now LPR data is available to just about everyone who wants it for any reason as long as they are part of law enforcement. They are using it, for example, to crack down on dissent, to stalk ex lovers, and to enforce abortion restrictions that are constitutionally dubious.
If we are to maintain our liberty, the vast power such a surveillance apparatus should either not exist or only be accessible through an adversarial court system (i.e. a search warrant).
(1) https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/11/how-cops-are-using-flo...
(2) https://local12.com/news/nation-world/police-chief-gets-caug...
(3) https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/10/flock-safety-and-texas...
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The problem is the people. The people have no goddamn principals.
Everyone wants "privacy" but nobody is willing to give up the government's ability to cheaply go after whatever class of petty deviant they personally hate to get it. So we get this stupid situation where the sum total of the political will is enough to keep these programs alive even if the cumulative result is indefensible.
The HN demographics are a prime example. They'll complain about data dragnets in the ICE thread and coo about how savvy the IRS or the EPA or whatever other agency they like are for using their own data haystack to comb for deviants. Now multiply by every other demographic and every other issue. That's why this stuff sticks around.
If people had some goddamn principals and said "this is wrong even if causes I care about are advanced by it" over time politicians would get elected in part by pandering to those people and at the margin some amount of shit would get done. But they don't, so it doesnn't.
We need to tighten the legal guardrails around this data and punish cops who misuse it.
This would move society in a positive direction.
Making the data itself a Taboo, just to avoid jailing bad cops, does not.
Just to expand on my ideas above about how we might manage them:
(1) Entities creating these data sets should require licenses to do so. (2) Creation of real-time location data sets would itself be a criminal offense without a license. (3) Data would need to be encrypted and stored according to a set of best practices. Failure to do so would be a criminal offense. (4) Access to data would be available through a court, ideally with the judge literally controlling access to the cryptographic keys. (5) Accessing the data without permission would be a criminal offense. (6) You would probably need to add civil penalties not subject to sovereign immunity. Otherwise cops would just ignore the law about unauthorized access and then also fail to prosecute themselves.
Or you know we could just make them illegal altogether (including the ones the cell phone company creates for advertisers). Much simpler!
No, it’s available to anyone. Most tow trucks and parking garages have them, and there are massive private networks.