[sp332]

audited access and look-ups

Driver's license photos have audited lookups, but all that tells us is that the system is routinely abused and no one is stopping it. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/02/cop-database-abuse/

Putting every car into the database will generate the maximum number of conflicts of interest possible. If a database only has interesting or suspicious plates in it, an average cop might not browse the database for funsies (risking a hit on the next audit). But if everyone the cop knows is in there, they might check up on spouses, exes, cute girls' habits, old bosses, friend's bosses... the list of reasons to risk a peek is endless.

[notahacker]

The flip side is I'd rather be found by idle browsers in a database of everyone than a database of people considered (sometimes arbitrarily) as suspicious. Ultimately the thoroughness of auditing lookups and clarity about what is and isn't acceptable enquiry is more important than who is in the database and how many months of data is accessible.

Rogue cops might be able to misuse access to the system out of sheer curiosity but similarly rogue employees in certain positions at [mobile] telephone companies can abuse their position to tracking your whereabouts and call history, and financial organizations have access to your transaction history and card numbers - both far more sensitive than a few isolated datapoints from when your car passes police vehicles with their cameras switched on. I don't see the EFF campaigning against mobile telephony or credit cards.

[steve_b]

I don't see the EFF campaigning against mobile telephony or credit cards.

The EFF is concerned about privacy matters involving mobile devices. https://ssd.eff.org/tech/mobile