AI Reading License Plates For MA Cops: Report

Massachusetts police departments are employing license plate reading camera technology, NBC Boston reported.

"The cameras capture and record license plates and locations as cars pass by," the NBC story said. "Using artificial intelligence, police who are contracted to use the system can track a motorist as they investigate a crime."

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But the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has been keeping an eye on license plate reading technology, according to NBC.

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"Wherever Flock Safety's license plate readers are installed, sensitive data about residents may be automatically shared with thousands of law enforcement agencies nationwide, including agencies involved in civil immigration enforcement and located in states that ban abortion," Kade Crockford, director of technology and justice programs at the ACLU of Massachusetts, wrote in a statement, the NBC story said.

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"This data sharing sidesteps local democratic control, exposes our sensitive driving records to hostile actors, and undermines the effectiveness of our Shield Law, which aims to protect people in our state from politically motivated harassment and prosecution," Crockford's statement said. "Communities must act to protect privacy, which is the foundation for a free and democratic society, by immediately ending their participation in this nationwide data sharing."

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Read the full NBC Boston story here.

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