HARRISBURG – The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania applauds the passage of House Bill 2771 (H.B.2771), a privacy protection law targeting Flock-style Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs), in the state House today.
ALPRs are mobile and stationary cameras that record and digitize license plate numbers and run them against hot lists to identify vehicles suspected of involvement in criminal activity and other legal violations. The data is uploaded into a shared database and, in so doing, allows people to be tracked for as long as the data is retained.
H.B.2771 establishes strong privacy guardrails for the use of ALPR cameras and the data they collect in Pennsylvania, including limiting law enforcement access to ALPR data for only the most serious crimes, mandating that law enforcement must have a probable cause warrant to access or share the data, restrictions on how long ALPR data can be retained before it is deleted, and making ALPR audit logs subject to Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law, among many other provisions.
The ACLU of Pennsylvania has been an advocate for these privacy protections since the inception of H.B.2771 and fought hard to ensure that the final version of the legislation delivered on its promise to protect Pennsylvanians from the mass surveillance enabled by ALPRs. These advocacy efforts included committee testimony by ACLU of Pennsylvania Legislative Director Elizabeth Randol.
“It’s refreshing to see a staunchly bipartisan effort to protect Pennsylvanians from this intrusive technology and we are eager to see this legislation get across the finish line,” said Randol. “Privacy is not a Democratic or Republican issue; it is a constitutional value. Protecting our personal data and limiting surveillance are essential to safeguarding freedom, safety and equity. All tools of surveillance must be carefully constrained to prevent misuse, abuse and overreach. We are happy to see state lawmakers taking meaningful steps to these ends.”
The legislation now advances to the state Senate for consideration.
You can read more about H.B. 2771 here.
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