DHS cancels plans for a national license-plate recognition database

A plan by the Department of Homeland Security to establish a national license-plate recognition database to collect information from commercial and law enforcement tag readers has been abruptly canceled after concerns were raised over privacy and how the data might be scrutinized.

Homeland Security has decided it doesn’t need a database of everyone’s license plates after all — at least not yet. Law enforcement officials across the country are already using license plate readers to track vehicles, but currently those cameras aren’t connected together in any sort of meaningful way. The Department of Homeland Security was interested in tying together the nation’s cameras, and posted a call for contractors earlier this week to find someone to create a new National License Plate Recognition Database to house them all.