Boston Police indefinitely suspend license plate reader program citing privacy concerns

TECHi's Author Michio Hasai
Opposing Author Bostonglobe Read Source Article
Last Updated
TECHi's Take
Michio Hasai
Michio Hasai
  • Words 64
  • Estimated Read 1 min

Privacy advocates scored a major victory in Boston this week when the city’s police department announced it would indefinitely suspend its use of automated license plate readers. The 14 devices currently in use let the BPD scan as many as four million vehicles a year, compiling the resulting date, time, and GPS coordinates into a massive database of private citizens’ movements around the city. 

Bostonglobe

Bostonglobe

  • Words 75
  • Estimated Read 1 min
Read Article

The Boston Police Department has indefinitely suspended its use of high-tech scanners that automatically check whether drivers have outstanding parking tickets, lapsed insurance or other violations after a Globe investigation raised serious privacy concerns. The police inadvertently released to the Globe the license plate numbers of more than 68,000 vehicles that had tripped alarms on automated license plate readers over a six-month period. Many of the vehicles were scanned dozens of times in that period alone.

Source

NOTE: TECHi Two-Takes are the stories we have chosen from the web along with a little bit of our opinion in a paragraph. Please check the original story in the Source Button below.

Balanced Perspective

TECHi weighs both sides before reaching a conclusion.

TECHi’s editorial take above outlines the reasoning that supports this position.

More Two Takes from Bostonglobe

Girl Scouts are going digital
Girl Scouts are going digital

One of America's finest food traditions is about to get more convenient than ever: Girl Scouts have have been given…

Harvard secretly monitors student attendance with hidden cameras
Harvard secretly monitors student attendance with hidden cameras

Even students at the world's finest universities can struggle to make it to class. At Harvard, university officials initiated a…

Boston is rolling out solar panel-equipped benches to charge your devices
Boston is rolling out solar panel-equipped benches to charge your devices

“Your cellphone doesn’t just make phone calls, why should our benches just be seats?” This is a statement made by…