Tiburon may install license plate cameras
Via the San Francisco Chronicle:
Welcome to Tiburon. Click. Your presence has been noted.
The posh and picturesque town that juts into San Francisco Bay is poised to do something unprecedented: use cameras to record the license plate number of every vehicle that crosses city limits.
Some residents describe the plan as a commonsense way to thwart thieves, most of whom come from out of town. Others see an electronic border gate and worry that the project will only reinforce Tiburon’s image of exclusivity and snootiness.
“I personally don’t see too much harm in it, because I have nothing to hide,” commodities broker Paul Lambert, 64, said after a trip to Boardwalk Market in downtown Tiburon on a recent afternoon.
“Yet,” he said, “it still has the taint of Big Brother.” […]
License plate readers have exploded in popularity in recent years, but Tiburon would be one of the first to mount them at fixed locations - and perhaps the very first to record every car coming or going. […]
The ACLU exhibits common sense, at least:
Nicole Ozer, who directs policy on technology for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, isn’t as supportive. She called the cameras a “needle in a haystack” approach that may waste money, invade privacy and invite unfair profiling.
“To be under investigation simply because you entered or left Tiburon at a certain time is incredibly intrusive,” Ozer said. “Innocent people should be able to go about their daily lives without being tracked and monitored.”
