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Legislative News and Views - Rep. John Lesch (DFL)

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Police Keeping Data On Where You Drive “Unconstitutional” Says Rep Lesch

Thursday, January 29, 2015

 
VIDEO LINK Rep. Lesch talks about license plate readers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh5VIeqXymU

Keeping data that tracks where you drive your car is “un-American” and “unconstitutional” says Rep. John Lesch (DFL-St. Paul) He says the retention of License Plate Reader (LPR) records should be zero if they’re “non-hit.”

Police use the automated systems to read license plates as a way of spotting stolen vehicles or cars that might be connected with other crimes. But those cameras also capture data on thousands of people who have committed no crime, but the data can show where they went at any particular day.

Lesch and Rep. Peggy Scott (R-Andover) joined with the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information (MNCOGI) on Wednesday to call for more transparency in government, but still protecting the privacy of individuals. It’s a goal that’s always been fraught with problems, but made even harder with new technologies.

One of those technologies is police body cams. Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges has pushed for police wearing the body cams as a way of making police more accountable for their actions. Lesch says Minnesota needs to create guidelines for the body cams to protect people’s privacy.

The 2015 Minnesota legislature will be making key decisions about how to deal with issues such as body cameras, license plate readers, and data related to HMO-administered public health care programs.

MNCOGI board member Don Gemberling said his non-profit all-volunteer, non-partisan organization is all about “transparency”, and has fought hard in the past to make sure the government data that is supposed be public, can actually be accessed by the public.

Source: The Uptake 1/29/15: http://theuptake.org/2015/01/28/license-plate-readers-body-cams-medical-records-who-can-see-your-private-data/