The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports its research, “Data Driven 2: California Dragnet,” based on dozens of California Public Records Act requests and data, shows the “massive amount” of vehicle surveillance in the state. In 2019, 82 agencies collected more than 1 billion automated license plate reader scans, while 99.9% of the data was not actively related to an investigation. “Hot lists” of license plates are created, and data not on those lists is stored, which the EFF argues is “a fundamental violation” of privacy.
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