Comment by wmf
3 hours ago
Just don't collect the data. If it's too dangerous for the government to have then private companies shouldn't have it either. The entire purpose of license plate readers is to assist law enforcement; if we decide as a society that we don't want to do it then just ban it completely.
You can't realistically ban cameras and character recognition software.
You can ban certain ways of using them, and enforce it and serve punishment for violation.
It’d be hard to keep individuals from doing this. But individuals aren’t running networks of cameras. Companies are. Those companies probably couldn’t fly under the radar selling LPR data if the practice was banned.
You can make it illegal to use private cameras for surveillance of public spaces.
You can ban what’s done with the software/hardware, just as we ban assault with a deadly weapon.