Marketplace Tech Virginia's reliance on surveillance tech raises data privacy questions
Apr 15, 2025
Explore the rise of surveillance tech in policing, like automated license plate readers, and the critical questions they raise about privacy. A personal journey through Virginia highlights how pervasive these devices are. Discover the risks of data collection and how it can impact personal safety and perceptions of citizens. The discussion turns to the challenge of creating regulations that safeguard privacy rights against the backdrop of recent legal developments and lessons from other cities like San Francisco.
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300-Mile Test Drive
- Jeff Schwaner drove 300 miles in Virginia to test how often license plate readers captured his car.
- He found he was captured less often than expected, but enough to reveal his travel habits.
Data Privacy Concerns
- Collected data, even seemingly innocuous, can pose risks to individuals and families.
- This data can be combined to reveal private information and enable pre-investigative surveillance.
Lack of Oversight
- Currently, there's minimal oversight on how surveillance data is stored and used.
- A proposed bill aims to regulate this, but it also restricts public access to this data through the Freedom of Information Act.