EPIC Joins EFF, Others Urging California to Block Federal Agencies’ Covert ALPRs in New Letter 

Today, in a letter to California Governor Newsom, EPIC joined the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and over 30 other organizations to urge California to revoke any permits issued to U.S. Border Patrol, Customs & Border Patrol, or the Drug Enforcement Administration that allow them to place and operate covert automatic license plate readers along state border highways.  

Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs) photograph passing vehicles and upload license plates and other identifying features into massive, searchable databases. The coalition warned that Border Patrol can use the license plate readers “to track and target travelers, leading to stops, harassment, detention, seizure of money and vehicles, and potential deportation.” 

Researchers have recently uncovered more than 40 covert ALPRs along California highways and roads. The coalition argues that these ALPRs are being used by USBP, CBP, and DEA, who have previously disguised ALPRs as traffic barrels and flatbed trailers, to conduct deportations and circumvent California laws that protect residents from the surveillance and violence committed by federal agencies under the guise of immigration enforcement.  

The coalition urges Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, and Dina El-Tawansy, Director of California’s Department of Transportation, to identify, investigate, and revoke relevant permits issued to USBP, CBP, and the DEA. The groups also called on California to initiate the removal of any covert ALPRs installed by the agencies and decline to issue any future permits.  

EPIC has long warned of the dangers of ALPRs and other location-tracking technologies and advocated for expansive protections against these dangers.