San Jose Drivers Sue City Over 500 Police Cameras That Track License Plates
Three drivers in San Jose filed a class action lawsuit against the city and police department over nearly 500 cameras that automatically scan license plates and track where drivers go. The cameras, made by Flock Safety, store data on millions of drivers' movements for up to a year.
Three San Jose residents are suing their city over what they call mass surveillance of drivers through automated license plate reader cameras.
The city has deployed nearly 500 of these cameras throughout San Jose. The cameras automatically scan every license plate that passes by and store records of where and when drivers travel. Police can search this data without getting warrants first.
San Jose's program goes far beyond what most California police departments do. Few agencies keep license plate data for a full year, and few have installed nearly 500 cameras to track drivers.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and American Civil Liberties Union are backing the lawsuit. They argue San Jose routinely violates the California Constitution by conducting warrantless searches of stored records showing millions of drivers' private movements and associations.
One plaintiff, Tony Tan, says the cameras create detailed profiles of people's daily lives based on where they drive. The lawsuit seeks to force the city to get warrants before searching the camera data and to limit how long records can be stored.
These cameras can track everywhere you drive and create a detailed record of your daily habits and places you visit. The lawsuit claims this violates your privacy rights under California's constitution because police don't need warrants to search this data.
The class action lawsuit will proceed through federal court. San Jose will need to respond to the constitutional claims about warrantless searches.
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