Privacy concerns on speed cameras

So here we go again... Victoria (the Police State) is wanting to bring in an automatic number-plate recognition system for all vehicles on the roads down there.

While I can see the merits in such a system, I know FOR AN ABSOLUTE FACT that it WILL be abused and that the intention for bringing in such a system is brought about by the trend lately for police to go after soft targets. That is, chasing the revenue dollar of Joe & Jane Average who may stray 3km over the speed limit as
opposed to those who drive unlicenced, unregistered, uninsured, commit genuine acts of road rage (not the pussy acts like flipping the bird), use false number plates, etc etc etc - and will be able to mask either themselves or their vehicles so that they cannot be photographed. These are the people that have something to hide and will be able to hide themselves quite easily while those who do not will be tracked relentlessly. Why are innocent people going about their business being tracked?

The system won't even catch the majority of the dipshits in their turbo-powered shitboxes (that sneeze every time they change gears) or the whackers in their 6-cylinder Commondores & Foulcans that go "Look at me! I can spin one wheel on a rain-slicked road!" - because many use false or stolen numberplates anyway!

This project ISN'T about protecting society by chasing criminals and getting them off the streets - this project is about the utter laziness of politicians and cops to do something constructive in society when it comes to dealing with the offenders they catch and "coercing" them to not reoffend. They just want to be able to track each and every person and then use the halfwits excuse of "If you do nothing wrong then you've nothing to worry about!"

Well, SHIT FOR BRAINS, maybe I would like to walk down the street without being tracked and having someone looking over my shoulder all the time? It's a proven fact (it is because I say that it is!) that when genuine contributors to society need a cop, there isn't one to be found - but when a criminal bashes a 75 year old woman for $15 so that he can get drugs, suddenly he has rights and the police are there to protect him!

Read the article....

Privacy concerns on speed cameras

Karen Dearne | September 23, 2008

CRIMTRAC's planned automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system could become a mass surveillance system, taking as many as 70 million photos of cars and drivers every day across a vast network of roadside cameras.

State and federal police forces want full-frontal images of vehicles, including the driver and front passenger, that are clear enough for identification purposes and usable as evidence in court.

"All vehicles passing through a fixed or mobile ANPR camera will have the data recorded and available for interrogation," CrimTrac told the Queensland TravelSafe inquiry into the use of ANPR for road safety.

"Existing camera applications, such as Safe-T-Cam, red light and speed cameras could be upgraded where necessary to provide constant live streaming to a central database.

"National connectivity would be achieved through secure digital networks for fixed cameras. Law enforcement agencies would also use mobile units."

David Vaile, executive director of the University of NSW's Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre, warned that the ANPR "could become the next Access Card".

"As a public surveillance system that could be linked to facial recognition, this has enough technology behind it to impinge on everybody's daily life," Mr Vaile said.

"CrimTrac has told us there will be 5000 cameras around the country, overwhelmingly in populated areas, taking some 70 million photos every day.

"There'll be maybe 1000 cameras in downtown Sydney, close to that number in Melbourne, perhaps 100 or so in Brisbane.

"If you use the main roads, you're likely to be snapped several times a day, and all those photos and any related data will be held by CrimTrac for up to five years."

Mr Vaile said it was false to represent the proposal as number plate recognition: "It's a photograph-all-drivers system."

At present, there are an estimated 300 fixed ANPR cameras and 100 mobile units in Australia.

CrimTrac is due to hand a $2.2 million scoping study for an integrated ANPR to the Minister for Home Affairs, Bob Debus, and the Ministerial Council for Police and Emergency Management in November.

According to a privacy consultation paper issued in June, all ANPR data collected would be made available to participating agencies in real time, and retained for five years for future investigations.

The national system would consist of "sightings data from all cameras in all jurisdictions of all vehicles that pass the camera points".

CrimTrac proposes siting fixed cameras at state border crossings, on main roads, in city centres and around infrastructure such as ports.

CrimTrac ANPR program manager Darren Booy said road transport, police and national security agencies had agreed images were needed for certain vehicle sightings.

"At times, police might not know that a vehicle is stolen or wanted in connection with a crime such as armed robbery until some time after the event," he said.

"Therefore, there's a requirement to capture all vehicle sightings and make those images available for analysis and data matching either immediately or at a later time."

Mr Booy said no decision had been made on the period for which images would be kept.

Images would be retained in cases where a vehicle was on a hot list of stolen or unregistered cars, or in cases involving unlicensed drivers or people wanted by police.

(see the rest online....)

This whole idea is just another push to turn everyone into potential criminals and override their rights under the system that is supposed to regard everyone as innocent until proven guilty in a court of law or by a jury of their peers. Photographing everyone who moves somehow makes the Police & the Judiciary think that you are there in court to prove your innocence rather than them having to prove your guilt - and that is against everything that the Westminster System is supposed to stand for.

My solution to the problems of criminals and prisons is to build a dirty big one in the middle of the Simpson Desert and segregate everyone out there. Nowhere to run - nowhere to hide - and any improper actions of the prisoners is met with extreme force. If you don't like it there - don't go back!

But no - the pantywaist culture that this country is embracing of "protect the criminal and persecute the innocent" is very much alive and well!

The problem is that for every stupid idea like this that gets promoted in Victoria - every other dictatorial state in this country wants to do the same.

If innocent people are going to be hounded and treated like criminals just for paying their taxes and maybe driving a little bit over an grossly-outdated speed limit: maybe I should become one of the protected ones - a criminal? I can see myself being quite happy in executing a few drug dealers and users just for fun - and the funny thing about that is that not only will the government, the judiciary and the police protect me for it - I will be doing more a service to society than all of them combined!