L.A. Politician Proposes Bold Plan To Wreck Homes, Destroy Lives And Abuse License Plate Reader Technology

from the conversely,-the-government-is-able-to-fuck-you-free-of-charge dept

Nick Selby says an LA councilwoman has just proposed "the worst use of license plate data in history." He's not lying.

Automatic license plate readers gather tons of plate/location data, which can then be used for law enforcement purposes (when not being sold to, or by, private entities to insurance companies, repossession firms, etc.). The plate/location data may help recover stolen vehicles or track mobile criminals, but they also create massive databases of people's movements. This can create a chilling effect on motorists, as someone said to Selby at a surveillance-focused conference.

“The issue is the potentially chilling effect that this technology has on freedom of association and freedom of transportation.”

Cue chilling effect.

That’s literally the phrase that leapt into my mind when I read the monumentally over-reaching idea posed by Nury Martinez, a 6th district Los Angeles city councilwoman, to access a database of license plates captured in certain places around the city, translate these license plates to obtain the name and address of each owner, and send to that owner a letter explaining that the vehicle was seen in, “an area known for prostitution.”

This should create some additional household friction in the Los Angeles area. There's nothing like a letter from the city informing a vehicle owner that their car was spotted in an area known for prostitution, with the underlying assumption that the only reason a vehicle would be in these areas is because the driver was looking to exchange money for sexual favors.

Martinez says the non-guilty have nothing to worry about, because she's an idiot.

Councilwoman Martinez feels that prostitution is not a “victimless” crime, and that by discouraging johns, the incidence of the crime can be reduced. Martinez told CBS Los Angeles, “If you aren’t soliciting, you have no reason to worry about finding one of these letters in your mailbox. But if you are, these letters will discourage you from returning. Soliciting for sex in our neighborhoods is not OK.”

There are plenty of legitimate reasons for someone to be in an area law enforcement has determined is "known for solicitation." Many drivers live or work in areas "known for prostitution." Many other drivers may have to drive through areas "known for prostitution" to shop, go to work, or just get to the nearest freeway entrance ramp. So, there are plenty of reasons to "worry" about being falsely labelled as a john by the city. And it won't be the city that has to deal with the fallout. It will be the families that are destroyed by Martinez's horrifically misguided proposal.

Even if innocent drivers toss the letters before they do any damage to their personal relationships, each letter generated from this abuse of technology meant to aid police in locating stolen vehicles and/or dangerous criminals will create a public record that can be requested and published by nearly anyone. So, even if a person throws the letter in the garbage after receiving it, someone else could make this information public -- threatening personal relationships, damaging reputations and possibly costing people their jobs. And all because their vehicle happened to be in an arbitrarily "wrong place" at the wrong time.

Selby reports the city council is currently working with the district attorney to see how -- or if -- this can be implemented. Hopefully, someone more aware of the legal ramifications of this proposal will shut it down before it does any damage.

Filed Under: alpr, letters, license plate readers, los angeles, nury martinez, prostitution

Harry Belafonte Sues Martin Luther King Jr.'s Heirs In Yet Another Fight Over 'Ownership' Of His Words

from the sued-at-last,-sued-at-least... dept

We've covered how Martin Luther King Jr.'s heirs have a long and unfortunate history of being over-aggressive enforcers of the intellectual property of their father -- not for the good of society and civil rights, but rather for revenue maximization. At times it's reached ridiculous levels, and the latest is that the famed singer Harry Belafonte is now suing MLK's heirs after they've spent years blocking his attempt to sell (for charity) some documents that Belafonte received from King and King's wife. King's heirs argue that Belafonte got these documents through questionable means and they belong to the estate. The details suggest, yet again, that this is just yet another fight where the King heirs are so focused on ownership that they don't seem to care about anything else.

Mr. Belafonte, who often supported the King family financially during the civil rights struggle, said the dispute pains him. He said in his view, Dr. King’s children had drifted away from their father’s values. “The papers are symbolic,” he said. “It’s really about what happened to the children, and I feel that somewhere, in this one area, I really failed Martin.”

Of course, what isn't clearly delineated in the NYT article about all this is the difference between ownership of the documents and the holding the copyright on the contents. Late in the article, a lawyer claims it's about the copyright:

Clarence B. Jones, Dr. King’s lawyer and close friend, said the King family had every right to protect its copyright.

However, it doesn't seem like this fight has anything to do with copyright at all. After all, the copyright doesn't change hands with the letter (and the King estate almost certainly doesn't hold the copyright in the letter from President Lyndon B. Johnson to Mrs. King, which is included in the documents they're fighting over). Furthermore, even if Belafonte had the documents that included works that were potentially covered by copyright for King, the copyright would still remain with the King estate, but Belafonte could still sell the physical documents under the first sale doctrine.

That said, given how aggressive the King estate has been over copyright as well as physical ownership of documents (they went after Boston University to get back a trove of documents King had directly donated to the school), it shows yet again how copyright is a tool that is used all too often for control, rather than for "the progress of science" as prescribed by the Constitution.

Filed Under: harry belafonte, letters, martin luther king jr., mlk, ownership

Verizon Starts Passing On RIAA Infringement Letters To Users

from the what's-next,-though? dept

Allison K alerts us to the news that Verizon is the latest US broadband provider to agree to pass along the RIAA letters accusing Verizon customers of unauthorized file sharing. AT&T, Comcast, Cox and some other ISPs already do this. The letters don't include specific threats of action (so, no "three strikes" type policies), but the RIAA is clearly hoping that by passing on the letters it will discourage unauthorized file sharing. It's a bit of a waste for Verizon to need to spend resources on this, and it really is just the RIAA's first step in the door to eventually push for kicking people off of the internet, but on the whole it's not that terrible to pass along notices. In the end, my guess is that it will actually serve to do a lot more to promote encryption services than anything else. Maybe some encryption service can approach Verizon about "sponsoring" those customer notifications.

Filed Under: file sharing, isps, letters, warnings
Companies: riaa, verizon