A follow up by the writers at the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) show that Texas Sheriffs lied about their interstate search “being searched for as a missing person,” and that “it was about her safety.” But they were actually investigating an abortion and used the lie to search resources from states that do not restrict abortion and would not have cooperated if they had known.
Flock Safety a company offering this “safety” ALPR (Automatic License Plate Recognition) system has waged a public media campaign to downplay what actually happened:
Last May, 404 Media obtained data revealing the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office conducted a nationwide search of more than 83,000 Flock ALPR cameras, giving the reason in the search log: “had an abortion, search for female.” Both the Sheriff's Office and Flock Safety have attempted to downplay the search as akin to a search for a missing person, claiming deputies were only looking for the woman to “check on her welfare” and that officers found a large amount of blood at the scene – a claim now contradicted by the responding investigator’s affidavit. Flock Safety went so far as to assert that journalists and advocates covering the story intentionally misrepresented the facts, describing it as "misreporting" and "clickbait-driven.
More abusive searches than previously reported:
The first search, which has not been previously reported, probed 1,295 Flock Safety networks–composed of 17,684 different cameras–going back one week. The second search, which was originally exposed by 404 Media, was expanded to a full month of data across 6,809 networks, including 83,345 cameras. Both searches listed the same case number that appears on the death investigation/incident report obtained by EFF.
So over 80,000 camera license plate searches under false pretenses searching for a woman involved in an abortion case with no connection to her “safety”. Big Brother interstate “safety systems” accessible by local law enforcement with little to no oversight.
ALPRs were marketed to the public as tools to find stolen cars and locate missing persons. Instead, they've become a dragnet that allows law enforcement to track anyone, anywhere, for any reason—including investigating people's healthcare decisions. This case makes clear that neither the companies profiting from this technology nor the agencies deploying it can be trusted to tell the full story about how it's being used.
The every well researched and long article about the whole story:
www.eff.org/...
