Require Police to Get a Warrant to Search ALPR Data
Every trip you take is being written down somewhere, and that's the kind of fact that reads like dystopian fiction until you remember it's just the quiet reality of license plate readers. I think the EFF is right to push for shutting these systems down outright, because a warrant requirement is a good rule but it still assumes the data should exist. My worry is that warrants become a bureaucratic checkbox, and the real harm is the chilling effect of knowing your movements are logged at all. I'd want to know how courts have actually treated ALPR data so far, and whether requiring a warrant changes police behavior in practice or just adds a form to fill out. There's something permanent about this kind of record, a single drive to a doctor's office or a protest that lingers in a database long after it should matter. Warrants are the minimum, but the better answer is to stop collecting in the first place.