[LINK] NSW Police photographing numberplates and storing data for five years, Four Corners reports

[Kim Holburn]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-09/nsw-police-photographing-numberplates-and-storing-data/4944632

> NSW Police photographing numberplates and storing data for five years, Four Corners reports
> 
> New South Wales Police cars are photographing the numberplates of every vehicle they pass on the state's roads and storing the data in a vast searchable database with more than 200 million entries.
> 
> Digital cameras attached to 280 vehicles are automatically taking snapshots of all the cars they pass, irrespective of whether they are suspected of any offence.
> 
> Each photograph is location time-stamped before being stored, creating a vast repository of data which is used as a tool for investigators.
> 
> Tonight's Four Corners reveals the practice in its program, In Google We Trust, which examines "big data" and privacy issues by following the data trail of an average Australian family.
> 
> The program examines how government agencies and private industry are gleaning data from our everyday activities.
> 
> NSW Police launched the technology, known as Automatic Numberplate Recognition (ANPR), in 2009.
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> Each car is equipped with three cameras that can take six photos a second and more than 1000 in an hour.
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> Using Infrared technology, the cameras are able to operate day or night.
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> The technology is a powerful crime-fighting tool for police, who can scan hundreds of numberplates automatically while freeing them up to look out for other offences.
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> "It automatically alerts officers to unregistered, uninsured and stolen vehicles, particularly given that as at 1 January this year, registration stickers are no longer required for light vehicles," a NSW Police spokesman told Four Corners in a written statement.
> 
> "Once alerted, officers can take the appropriate action against the driver and/or owner of the vehicle and/or confiscating the vehicle."
> 
> NSW Privacy Commissioner will seek more information from police
> 
> The statement says no personal information is stored and that there are strict protocols and procedures in place for accessing and retrieving information.
> 
> Police can routinely match numberplate registration numbers with a vehicle's owner.
> 
> "The information collected by the automatic numberplate recognition units – car photo, registration plate number, police vehicle serial number that captured the read, and where and when the photo was taken – is stored in a separate database for about five years."
> 
> NSW Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Coombs told Four Corners that while the practice is legal, she will be seeking more information from the police.
> 
> "I think it's unlikely that the majority in the community are aware of the potential of that collection and I think many would actually be quite taken by surprise that that is occurring," she said.
> "To my mind this issue raises things which are fundamental in the legislation and that's about transparency and accountability and the matter that you're raising is one that I most certainly would be speaking further to police about."


-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
T: +61 2 61402408  M: +61 404072753
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