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From VOA Learning English, |
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this is the Technology Report. |
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Law enforcement agencies across the United States |
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are using cameras |
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to take pictures of automobile license plates. |
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The idea is to build a computerised collection of information |
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detailing the daily travel of millions of Americans. |
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Arlington County Police Detective Mohammed Tabibi |
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is with the Automobile Theft Department. |
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He uses a license plate readers, |
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also known as a LPR to look for stolen vehicles. |
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"It has paid dividends. |
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We have caught some people involved |
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in some serious crimes because of the LPR," said Tabibi. |
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The use of LPRs is growing across the United States. |
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Some are secured to poles along roadsides, |
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others are placed in law-enforcement vehicle. |
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Privacy groups are concerned about the growing use of these devices. |
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They say the information collected is stored on computers |
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and shared with other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. |
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Jay Stanley is with the American Civil Liberties Union(ACLU). |
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"What they are also doing is storing everybody's time, |
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place, and location. |
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And many police departments are holding that information indefinitely. |
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You know in our society, |
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the government doesn't follow you and invade your privacy |
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and track you unless it has a specific reason |
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that you are involved in wrongdoing," said Stanley. |
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Until recently, Kevin Rearden |
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served as Captain of the Arlington County Police, |
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he also headed the county's Homeland Security Department before he retired. |
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Mr Rearden said, county policy |
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calls for the LPR information to be kept for six months. |
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"We originally had a two-month period, |
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and the detectives requested the chief extend it to six months |
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because they found in so many investigations, |
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keeping it for two months wasn't long enough," said Rearden. |
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But he said, other law enforcement agencies |
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that use the county's information may store it for unlimited periods of time. |
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Supporters of privacy rights say they have no problem with police departments |
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taking pictures of license plates to investigate crimes. |
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But Jay Stanley says, |
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they're against storing the information for long periods of time. |
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"...Once you are past a certain periods of time, |
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it is very unlikely it is going to be useful. |
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Meanwhile we are creating this giant infrastructure |
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for tracking everybody all the time," said Stanley. |
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Retired Arlington country Captain Rearden disagrees. |
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"They keep bringing up the word tracking. |
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And if I went out and ran your tag in our server, |
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I would not be able to track you. |
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a few places in Arlington in a particular time. |
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By no stretch of the imagination would I be able to track you," said Rearden. |
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The ACLU says Americans need to know how federal officials |
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are using the information collected from LPR cameras, |
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the group has brought federal charges |
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against the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. |
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And that's the Technology Report from VOA Learning English. |
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I'm Milagros Ardin. |