Police in Fairfax, Virginia, will stop using a license plate database after a county judge ruled the "passive use" of the plate data violates Virginia privacy law, The Washington Post reports. The ruling is limited to the Fairfax police, who plan to appeal the decision, but it could eventually bring changes statewide. Fairfax authorities are among agencies ignoring a nonbinding opinion from the state attorney general in January 2014 that deems maintaining a plate database unlawful. Privacy advocates are against the casual use of the databases, arguing they can track a person’s movements with time and location data anytime a plate is captured by a license plate reader. (Registration may be required to access this story.)
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