Massachusetts court rules state police must disclose license plate reader locations

A Massachusetts superior court judge has ruled that state police must disclose the locations of their automatic license plate reader (ALPR) technology. This decision concludes a three-year legal battle initiated by the ACLU of Massachusetts, which sought transparency regarding the state's massive surveillance network. The state police were previously withholding records concerning approximately 290 million data points used to track motorists. Privacy advocates argue that the integration of AI into these surveillance systems has led to unchecked monitoring, fueling a grassroots movement against the proliferation of technologies like Flock cameras. While police have historically kept these locations secret, the court determined that the public interest in transparency outweighs the state's justification for withholding the information. This ruling comes amid growing bipartisan legislative efforts to regulate private surveillance companies and restrict the use of automated data collection tools by law enforcement agencies across the United States.