A police car with a device that photographs license plates moves through the city and scans the traffic on the streets, relaying the data it collects to a computer for sifting. It also allows authorities to monitor where average citizens might be at any particular time and archive it.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Little Rock may not be a likely terrorism target or a gang crime hotspot, but the Arkansas capital has decided to follow the example of high-security cities by expanding electronic surveillance of its streets.

A police car with a device that photographs license plates moves through the city and scans the traffic on the streets, relaying the data it collects to a computer for sifting. Police say the surveillance helps identify stolen cars and drivers with outstanding arrest warrants.

It also allows authorities to monitor where average citizens might be at any particular time. That bothers some residents, as well as groups that oppose public intrusions into individual privacy. The groups are becoming more alarmed about license plate tracking as a growing number of police departments acquire the technology.

Though authorities in Washington, D.C., London and Chicago conduct extensive electronic surveillance of public areas to detect security threats or deter gang crime, “Today, increasingly, even towns without stoplights have license plate readers,” said Catherine Crump, a New York-based staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union.

In Little Rock, even some city officials wonder about keeping data on drivers’ movements.

“It bothered me particularly if someone wasn’t guilty of a crime or didn’t have any active warrants or hadn’t committed a crime,” city director Ken Richardson said.

However, Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas said the law enforcement benefits outweigh any concerns about possible abuse of the information, which, as a public record, is legally available for anyone to see. He said the department may get more of the devices.

“Should that potential of misuse therefore eliminate the capacity of law enforcement to collect data which has a legitimate purpose for the safety of our officers or the appropriateness of enforcement actions? I don’t think so,” he said.

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moralanarchism:

White House prepares CISPA-like cybersecurity Executive Order

thevocalibertarian:

With Congress still unable to iron out a cyber-security bill that both sides of the Legislative Branch can get behind, the White House has drafted an Executive Order that they will roll out if efforts on Capitol Hill remain unproductive.

Despite repeated pleas from lawmakers and other federal officials to have a cybersecurity legislation adopted by the United States government, members of the House and Senate have been unwilling to compromise on a bill. With every attempt at passing cybersecurity legislation ending with roadblocks, the White House has now announced that it is considering taking measures into their own hands.

White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden tells the Washington Post that “an Executive Order is among the things we’re considering to fulfill the president’s direction to us to do absolutely everything we can to better protect our nation against today’s cyberthreats,” though has not confirmed how far along the White House is with efforts to enact such an order.

Miller also adds that the order, in its latest incarnation, would include information-sharing provisions similar to what was included in CISPA, but would not, however, necessarily reward private sector corporations with incentives for openly sharing intelligence with the government.

“Sources say it doesn’t advocate for rewards or more tangible incentives such as liability protection like the Lieberman-Collins bill does,” Miller adds.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), one of the most outspoken opponents of CISPA, said that the House’s original attempt at cybersecurity legislation paved the way for some serious problems because of those protections. Back in May, Sen. Wyden said, “Our job is to write a cyber-security bill that protects Americans’ security and their fundamental right to privacy,” but argued that all attempts had been misguided.

“I believe these bills will encourage the development of a cyber-security industry that profits from fear and whose currency is Americans private data” he said. “These bills create a Cyber Industrial Complex that has an interest in preserving the problem to which it is the solution.”