Pass a law making it illegal to do a combination of collecting and storing personally identifying information, such as a license plate number, in a timestamped database with location data. Extra penalty if it's done for the purpose of selling the data.
So you’d need to further distinguish to preserve that freedom.
I don't normally do that, unless I'm involved in an accident.
> So you’d need to further distinguish to preserve that freedom.
And you think it's very hard to do that, legally speaking?
I think regulation is critically needed in this area, but acting like it’s easy to do well is a recipe for laws like the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act that have massive unexpected consequences.
“Intent to track” could be an approach, but the toll bridges near me use license plate scanners for payment, so I could see it not being that clear cut. There are likely other valid use cases, like statistical surveys, congestion pricing laws, etc.
That's why it actually is hard.
Plus, what about legitimate purposes of tracking? E.g. journalists tracking the movements of politicians to show they are meeting in secret to plan corrupt activities. Or tracking Ubers to show that the city is allowing way more then the number of permits granted. Or a journalist wanting to better understand traffic patterns.
The line between illegitimate usage and legitimate usage seems really blurry. Hence my question.
>That's why it actually is hard.
Actually, it's not. It's the same idea as having a journalist (or a private investigator or a law "enforcement" agent) surveil a location and take photos of those who come and go on public streets to/from a particular location.
It's not the same thing if you put up automated cameras to identify everyone who goes anywhere for no reason, then create a database that allows folks (especially the government, but folks like Flock as well) to track anyone for any (or no) reason wherever they go.
That's a difference in kind not one of degree.
You’re just not being creative enough. Car insurers could increase your premiums if you often travel through dangerous intersections, employers could decide to pass you over for promotion if you’re often at a bar, etc.
Even better, make the law flexible enough to encompass all data brokers.
But yeah, that's a pretty obvious one.
That requires at least my name, a date, and a location.
