ACLU: Do Automatic License Plate Readers violate privacy under the 4th Amendment
5 hours ago
- #Fourth Amendment Privacy
- #Automated License Plate Readers
- #Surveillance Technology
- The ACLU, ACLU of Virginia, and Electronic Frontier Foundation filed an amicus brief on April 20, 2026, challenging Norfolk police's use of Flock ALPRs in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
- The brief argues ALPRs collect extensive sensitive location data, including from non-suspects, and store it in interconnected databases with inconsistent retention periods.
- Collected data can identify vehicle owners, drivers, associates, phone numbers, and criminal histories, enabling long-term, cross-jurisdictional queries by law enforcement.
- Despite Virginia's 2025 statute prohibiting out-of-state and federal data sharing, many agencies have violated this rule, though they can still access out-of-state data and share within Virginia's internal ALPR network.
- The brief concludes that ALPRs violate Fourth Amendment privacy expectations due to indiscriminate data collection and retrospective searches, urging the Fourth Circuit to reverse the district court's ruling.