> Since 2016, sharing any ALPR data with out-of-state or federal law enforcement agencies is a violation of the California Civil Code (SB 34). Nevertheless, many agencies continue to use services such as Vigilant Solutions or Flock Safety to make the ALPR data they capture available to out-of-state and federal agencies.
So the issue seems to be, these agencies have just been violating the law with no consequence for years now.
Automated license plate readers, in this case. Or the legality of police purchase of private ALPR data, to hurt the economic incentive of private surveillance. Or the ease with which individuals and license plates are linked in the first place - remember, while we're quick to give up and say we can't do anything about private ALPRs, they're just gathering publicly available data, license plates themselves are government-mandated. I'm sure there are ways to improve their privacy, while still permitting identification for hit&runs. Like gratis switching of plates, and closely guarded access to the license plate database, akin to library records.
There are many possibilities. Carving out narrow exceptions for a handful of uses favored by the ACLU, thereby stealing momentum from any larger anti-surveillance movements, is possibly the worst of them.
ACLU has been fighting ALPR implementations for over a decade, now.
If you want to them to fight a case that will impact all ALPR, they will need to be given a case that can set such a precedent, and it will likely rely on legislation that does not currently exist.
> If you want to them to fight a case that will impact all ALPR, they will need to be given a case that can set such a precedent, and it will likely rely on legislation that does not currently exist.
As the current top comment states [1], this is such a case, and the legislation already exists! Yet instead of demanding cops merely follow existing law, they're making a narrower demand tailored to cover just their preferred activity.
So the issue seems to be, these agencies have just been violating the law with no consequence for years now.