A recent edition of BBC program “Who’s Watching You” has revealed that UK police forces, with the knowledge of the UK government, is building a national grid network of ANPR cameras.
ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras automatically read the number plate of passing cars and check with DVLA databases whether the vehicle is correctly registered, taxed and insured. Normally the cameras are used by police to stop offending drivers immediately.
However, the linkage of the police, council and other CCTV cameras into a nationwide network and central database means that authorities will now be able to track vehicles across cities and the whole country without anyone knowing. The database will link together sitings of a particular vehicle into a timestamped journey around the country. Since the system will automatically record all vehicles it will allow users of the database to retrospectively track any vehicle.
The system, supposedly as an aid to track major criminals and terrorists, will now enable police forces to be able to monitor individuals for whatever reason as they drive around the countryside.
Worryingly, the police will not have to obtain court orders, or account for any of their actions. You could be tracked and identified as a potential criminal or terrorist just because your travel pattern matches a pre-determined suspect pattern.
As the BBC article highlights an anti-war protester (a legal activity) was added to a list of suspects for ANPR tracking. As he drove into London he was stopped by an anti-terrorist unit.
There is no monitoring of how the police use the data or any checks to ensure that suspects are being tracked legitimately.
Of course real terrorists and criminals use false plates, change vehicles regularly, or use stolen vehicles so it makes you wonder what the real justification and purpose of this network is!
