[gnerd]

I think the line is usually defined as you have no expectation of privacy in public, at least that was the justification for the CCTV in the UK (and other English Common Law jurisdictions).

I don't think you should destroy anything, there are other ways to go about expressing disdain that don't lead to laws being broken.

It might be cultural but I wouldn't be freaked out by the petrol station camera. If they are scanning faces, then it is only to locate the head of a moving subject, there is no facial DB consisting of every citizen for them to draw from and if they are scanning license plates then there is obviously enough people pulling a runner to justify investment in newer, more expensive tools for an old problem, sounds fair enough to me. Isn't that the point of having a license number? A publicly visible identification number for a specific vehicle?

For me there is a difference in picking information up (in an automatic fashion) that people throw away willy nilly and getting information that is protected.

[silentOpen]

> there is no facial DB consisting of every citizen for them to draw from

Yet.

> if they are scanning license plates then there is obviously enough people pulling a runner to justify investment in newer, more expensive tools for an old problem, sounds fair enough to me. Isn't that the point of having a license number? A publicly visible identification number for a specific vehicle?

Not specific. Every vehicle. All the vehicles in this place at any time without regard to if they were "pulling a runner". There is a database.

[gnerd]

Well I was thinking there is no DB for them to draw from because it was a private run camera, not because the facial recognition DB doesn't exist (because technically it does exist for anyone who has ever got a biometric passport in Europe so you don't have to go through old style passport checks).

Remember, at that "gas station", you were on private property. Do you want the government telling you what cameras you can have on your property? How do you know the other cars around you didn't have dash-cams with OCR?

If I pin a name tag to myself, I won't get all up in arms if someone takes a picture of me and I certainly won't make the distinction if their camera is equipped with OCR software or not. If I don't want that information out there, I won't put it out there. If I am regulated to put it out there, then that's that really.

There may have been someone writing everyone license plate down too, I wouldn't care (but that's me). If I saw them trying to break into my car to get my license or registration, then that is a different matter altogether.

[judk]

Yeah I don't want the government telling me who I can't rob, rape, and murder on my own private property either.

[gnerd]

Well that's tough titties, because they have told you who you can't rob or murder on your private property.... anyone and everyone.

If your license plate was protected, it wouldn't be stuck on the outside of your car in high contrast letters made specifically to be captured by automated means. At least that's how it seems to me.

[indrax]

Nice slope you're standing on.

[EGreg]

There are already ways to track every car and person in a city: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/new-survei...

It will only become better and more accessible to organizations. Deal with it... by starting your own companies and making sure things go in a good direction. Maybe educate lawmakers on the potential dangers.

But banning technology isnt going to work.