WA lawmakers want to regulate license plate readers

Editor’s note: This was first published on the washingtonstatestandard. com website Monday, Dec. 1.

Washington state lawmakers next year hope to rein in law enforcement’s use of automated license plate readers amid revelations that federal immigration authorities are using the data.

The readers are mounted everywhere from street poles to police patrol cars. They take pictures of vehicles and use artificial intelligence to analyze the data. Police can use the information, stored in a database, to track vehicles that could be tied to criminal investigations.

At least 16 states regulate the readers. Washington does not.

The technology has become increasingly common in Washington and across the country and is used not only by police, but also businesses and community groups. Washington’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is leading the charge to regulate the license plate readers here.

The issue has taken on new urgency during the Trump administration’s campaign for mass deportations, said Tee Sannon, the organization’s technology policy program director.

A report last month out of the University of Washington found several local police departments authorized U.S. Border Patrol to use their license plate reader databases. And in other cases, Border Patrol had backdoor