License plate surveillance system suspended for being inaccurate

BOSTON — Massachusetts has suspended using a controversial license plate surveillance system after discovering a glitch that brought about inaccurate knowledge to be recorded for greater than 5 years, in response to a report obtained by The Boston Globe.

The inaccuracies had been present in a community of mounted, fastened high-speed cameras put in by Massachusetts State Police that took pictures of license plates of passing automobiles.

The state’s Government Workplace of Public Security and Safety issued a memo Wednesday that mentioned the issue was found Nov. 12 by state police officers reviewing knowledge collected.

The officers mentioned the dates and time stamps for a few of the entries had been inaccurate.

The information collected included location, date and time and was used for prison investigations and in some instances to search out suspects in actual time, with out acquiring warrants or courtroom orders.

“Like with facial recognition and different newer types of surveillance, there’s too many dangers that one thing will go incorrect if that is left fully to the manager department of the federal government to run in secret,” mentioned Kade Crockford, director of the Expertise for Liberty Program on the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. “We have now to keep in mind that these applied sciences are usually not excellent, and they’re by no means going to be excellent.”

State officers declined to straight reply questions or present extra particulars.