Article from For Liberty by Norm Leahy.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has released a “privacy impact assessment” report detailing how it uses license plate reader technology. Buried in the text are warnings that the agency is collecting and storing data on tens of thousands of innocent people without their knowledge or consent.

The CBP says that while the intent of license plate readers is to help enforce U.S. immigration laws, its surveillance is so extensive the only way they can avoid falling into the data net is “to avoid the impacted area, which may pose significant hardships and be generally unrealistic.”

According to TechCrunch, the CBP had a similar problem with facial recognition programs at airports:

…in 2017 during a trial that scanned the faces of American travelers as they departed the U.S., a move that drew ire from civil liberties advocates at the time. CBP told Americans that travelers who wanted to opt-out of the face scanning had to “refrain from traveling.”

In a statement on its privacy assessment, a CPB representative said: “How would you be able to opt-out of a license plate reader? Can I opt-out of speed cameras here in DC?”

Glibly dismissing privacy concerns remains a hallmark of the American security state post-9/11.