Re: “Licence plate scanning altered,” Jan. 23

RCMP superintendent Denis Boucher says the automatic licence-plate recognition program is not used for mass surveillance.

And hopefully it never will be.

Still, there is good reason to doubt RCMP claims and to assume that mass surveillance was indeed a goal of ALPR.

In August 2009, RCMP Sgt. Warren Nelson said that both federal and provincial privacy commissioners had approved ALPR. Warren was mistaken.

Neither commissioner had approved the program. In fact, the federal privacy commissioner called it “general and ubiquitous surveillance, without adequate safeguards.”

Then, last February, Victoria Police Chief Jamie Graham told a conference that a mass-surveillance database was indeed his goal for ALPR.

Given these worrying statements by police, and police behaviour related to ALPR, citizens who value their rights and freedoms should stay skeptical and vigilant.

Graham Briggs

Victoria

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