this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2026
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Privacy

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Court finds ALPR (Flock) was an unconstitutional search & 4A violation. (positive news) (storage.courtlistener.com)
submitted 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) by FineCoatMummy@sh.itjust.works to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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I made up the title b/c the URL is to the court's finding. Doesn't have a title per se.

TLDR (ruling is 38 pages, so this is BRIEF gd!)

Driver was stopped for following too close. Officer gave warning, but no citation. Officer ran ALPR history, then searched car based on ALPR. Driver admitted to having marijuana in the vehicle, which officer said he didn't care about, and was only after hard drugs. ALPR history had driver driving a long distance for a short visit to the state.

Court ruled:

  1. Traffic stop was legal and justified by observed violation. Officer had reasonable basis to stop driver.

  2. The subsequent search was NOT constitutional, since officer did not have a warrant for ALPR data, and had no reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.

Result from ruling,

(Driver) has a reasonable expectation of privacy in the location data which tracked her movements over several weeks. .... The ALPR search was an unreasonable governmental intrusion of protected privacy rights.

Vehicle search result was quashed.

There's lots more nuance in the linked filing. Also citations. It's really good IMO. It balances the privacy of the driver's vehicle with the legit justification for the stop. It also notes how "persistent, dragnet surveilence" differs from other kinds. Kudos to judge Sara Hill for really digging in and understanding the privacy issues, esp around pg 28+ of the ruling.

It's long but totally worth a read. The case does not set a binding precedent.

The legal situation is FAR from perfect. But I hope just once we can have a thread where a ton of ppl don't immediately go, "this good privacy news is useless b/c it does not solve every single problem every single time!" It is evidence in favor of a slow but meaningful shift in ALPR jurisprudence. It stands along side recent SCOTUS rulings that also boost location data privacy, like Chatrie v United States and Carpenter v United States.

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[โ€“] pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Now do alprs in general

[โ€“] FineCoatMummy@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 weeks ago

Jurisprudence changes VERY slowly, and for good reasons. But I believe there is movement in a good direction about location data privacy.

For a long time, the thinking was, there is no expectation of privacy in public so your location in public is not 4A protected. That was kinda reasonable 50 years ago, before massive scale data aggregation. In recent years the courts are slowly recognizing that indescriminate aggregation of loc history creates a difference in kind. The "entirety of your movements" should enjoy 4A protection, even tho a single observation of your loc is not protected.

The courts are not a monolith. There are hundreds of thousands of judges each with their own views. The system changes slowly. There are judges still adhering to the "no expectation of privacy in public" idea. But there is a shift happening. Even SCOTUS has started to recognize that dragnet loc surveilence is a problem.