Thanks to the wonders of this open source License Plate Camera technology, you can now download and transform any IP security camera into your own license plate scanner. You’ve seen tech like this in your favorite sci-fi thriller movie, and today it’s become a reality. This software is now downloadable through GitHub and available for free, raising all sorts of potential legal questions centered around privacy.
Powered by a small company called ALPR, this new open source software can scan, recognize and build a database of license plate numbers quickly. This software equips you with modern surveillance technology that was once only the domain of private contractors.
License Plate Camera tech or LPR cameras have been used by law enforcement to spot stolen vehicles for years now. These cameras utilize the Internet and equip officers with a “hot list” of cars that have been stolen or suspected to be involved with crime.
The types of LPR cameras used by government officials can scan up to 60 plates a second, capturing and recognizing license plates with high speed efficiency. The open source software offered by OpenALPR may not be quite as powerful, but it can do the job that once was possible with cameras and hardware that costs well over $1000 dollars.
Not only does OpenALPR offer this software as a free download, but they also offer a cloud-based security system for a low monthly fee. Their License Plate Camera tech will work with any camera that supports the MJPEG formats and streams. This also includes any infrared camera tech and works so long as the license plates are visible in the video streams.
License Plate Camera Legal issues
This has led to a stream of legal confrontations and market results, most notably by Vigilant Solutions. Their claim is that automatically collecting license plate numbers by way of License Plate Camera tech is perfectly legal, so long as it’s on public grounds. In some sense this does make sense, after all how much privacy can you expect to have when you are driving on public roads?
However detractors of this new License Plate Camera will point out the obvious pitfalls from this tech. What’s to stop someone from compiling their own hot list for cars passing in front of their home, or through a car mounted solution?
It’s a narrow legal road for License Plate Camera tech proponents, because the First Amendment gives people the right to photograph plates and retain the data they collect. But it may only take one incident of the wrong person abusing this power before laws are built around restricting the use of License Plate Camera tech.
Want to learn more about this fascinating technology? head over to OpenALPR and see what their services are all about.
