Massachusetts law enforcement can’t withhold information about the locations of automatic license plate reader (ALPR) technology from the public, a superior court judge has ruled.
It’s the latest speed bump to a swelling nationwide surveillance network spurred by controversial Flock cameras.
The decision ends a three-year court battle between the ACLU of Massachusetts and the state police, following the civil society group’s 2023 lawsuit against the state for refusing to disclose records on the locations of ALPRs and the use of the public’s data by police.
At the time, the state was holding an estimated 290 million records used to track motorists and monitor vehicle activity. The judge determined that state police could not justify withholding the information from the public and ordered an immediate release of ALPR records.
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“Over the past year, public outrage about secretive police surveillance has exploded across Massachusetts and the nation,” said Kade Crockford, director of technology and justice programs at the ACLU of Massachusetts. “People from cities and towns across the state have been organizing to push back against local police adoption of Flock and other license plate readers. But what many residents don’t know is that the Massachusetts State Police maintains its own statewide network of license plate readers.”
The explosion of ALPR surveillance systems, enabled by the integration of sophisticated AI, has prompted concern from privacy advocates and free speech organizations. Communities have pushed back against the growing presence of Flock cameras, often engaging in guerrilla tactics to expose and disable them.
A bipartisan effort to regulate companies like Flock has gained momentum ahead of the midterm elections, with prominent voices from both parties pushing for legislation to restrict their use by authorities. Last month, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley announced he was leading an investigation into Flock, as state governments crack down on data collection and block funding for the private tech company.
“In my 20-plus years at the ACLU, I’ve never really seen such a grassroots uprising against surveillance technology like this,” said ACLU senior policy analyst Jay Stanley in a recent interview with the Guardian.
