By Gemma Simpson, 18 July 2007 13:06
NEWS
Police could gain greater access to data from road traffic cameras under government plans.
Yesterday the government revealed that Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police have been excepted from parts of the Data Protection Act to allow the "bulk transfer" of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) data in realtime from transport authorities to the police, saying it was necessary due to the "enduring, vehicle-borne terrorist threat to London".
But another document from the Home Office, released inadvertently, revealed plans for enabling the police across the country to also get greater access to data, according to a report in The Times.
A Home Office spokeswoman said in a statement: "We will develop proposals to be discussed across government to ensure that bulk ANPR data sharing with the police is subject to a robust regulatory framework which ensures public openness."
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The spokeswoman added: "No decision has yet been made on whether ANPR data from third parties should be made available in this way to the police for other crime fighting purposes. Such a decision would only be taken with wider consultation."
The government announced plans in 2005 to develop a national network of thousands of cameras that automatically scan car number plates and check them against police databases.
Police can store and search data captured by the national ANPR camera network for at least two years, the government revealed last year.
Comments
There are 7 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
No such thing as a private life anymore - welcome to the Police State of Britain
2. Karen Challinor
and the next step will be an automatic datamining application that checks every vehicles location and flags up suspicious activity, such as a vehicle getting from point A to Point B faster than the speed limits in force at the time allow or perhaps frequent proximity to sensitive areas such as government buildings, banks, hospitals, power stations, airports and the like
fishing expedition anyone ?
3. galley slave#41
Well don't forget to send BIG BROTHER
a Christmas card or you could be on his s**t list.
4. Radical Meldrew
Even less coppers on the beat. They'll all be cosily wrapped up with mugs of cocoa looking at the latest issue of 'Roadwatch'
5. JT
This is what happens when people sit around and dont exercise their rights to freedom.
Britain will soon be the totalitarian state portrayed in films such as "V" and " Equilibrium".
Wake up and fight back now, before its too late.
Demonstrate, dont sit there.
6. Steve Watkins
it does not surpise me that that the coppers are using this info in this way.
this evening, driving home from wellingborough to buckingham, i encountered a sign saying 'police' directing us leftwards in front of a bollard in the middle of the road. we wre able to drive on until we met a flood, necessitating a u-turn to find a different route. the police are too incompetent to post a diversion so as to help the public but sufficiently competent to collect taxes via tax cameras for this despicable government who employ worthless layabouts in such useless quangos as 'crime reduction' or 'tax camera partnerships'. just look at the sanctimonious drivel on their websites. SCUM!
7. galley slave#41
I'm just about to send my radio controlled car out to speed past some cameras with its VEE SHAPED antenna waving in the slipstream.
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!!