The California Supreme Court agreed to consider a lawsuit by the EFF and ACLU of Southern California asking for a week’s data of the automated license plate readers collected by Los Angeles Police and Sheriff’s departments. The two groups are also contesting a lower court finding that license plates scans were records of ongoing investigations exempt from the California Public Records Act. (Electronic Frontier Foundation, July 29, 2015, by Jennifer Lynch)
In filing the cases for greater transparency on license plate readers, the EFF and ACLU argue that it stretches credulity for law enforcement to hold given the scope of the license plate scans that all cars in Los Angeles County are under constant investigation. (Ars Technica, June 16, 2015, by Cyrus Farivar)
The ACLU and EFF are contending that these automated scans are indiscriminate and untargeted so it is important to make law enforcement authorities accountable for them. (TheNewspaper.com, July 30, 2015)