A data sharing report from a public records request we filed on March 3, 2026, revealed that the UC Merced Police Department was sharing license plate reader data with federal and out-of-state agencies in violation of California state law. The…
Category: License Plate Readers
Modesto Police Illegally Shared License Plate Reader Data Since at Least 2021
The Modesto Police Department revealed that it had been sharing license plate reader data with federal agencies in violation of California state law after we filed a public records request for agencies with whom Modesto Police shared that data. In…
Courts Weigh In On ALPR
In quick succession, two courts weighed in on the license plate reader problem – in very different ways. In Schmidt v Norfolk, the one you’ve probably heard of, a federal court declined to reconsider the “no right to privacy in…
Automated License Plate Reader Use Doesn’t Add Up
by Tracy Rosenberg In June of 2025, Oakland Privacy received a Flock audit log from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office detailing the activity in their cloud database of license plate reader scans from the department’s owned cameras. After keyword searches…
Kaiser Conducting Mass Surveillance of its Members
Kaiser Permanente has been conducting mass surveillance of its members for years and is sharing that information with law enforcement. Public records requests and publicly-available information have revealed that numerous Kaiser Permanente facilities in California have installed surveillance cameras that…
The Saga of AB 1463 and Other Sacto Tales
The 2023 legislative season in CA’s state capital has come to a close. Oakland Privacy intervened on your behalf on over 65 bills (a world record), piping up in support, opposition or demanding changes. Our final batting average in sign/veto…
San Leandro Delays Expansion of ALPR Program
The San Leandro City Council voted 4-3 to reject, for now, a police proposal to double the number of license plate readers in the East Bay town from 41 to 82. The initial 41 were approved in 2022, but just…
Freeway Shootings Increased After Millions Spent on Freeway Surveillance
The Freeway Security Network was established to reduce freeway shootings after a number of high profile freeway shootings on Interstate 80 and Highway 4 in 2016, with $3.5 million from the California State Transportation Agency. However the number of freeway…
CA’s New Digital License Plates Won’t Have GPS Trackers
The license plates on your car already pass through a blanket of automated license plate readers on CA roadways. For even more surveillance, new digital license plates becoming available from the CA DMV were planned to have embedded GPS tracking.…
Wine Country ALPRS
Yet another city is contemplating a dive into mass surveillance via automated license plate readers. St. Helena, CA, mostly known for wineries and upscale restaurants, is considering adding the devices to the town’s streets. As usual, the item has been…