Minneapolis license plate data raises privacy questions

By Curtis Gilbert
Minnesota Public Radiotwincities.com
Posted: 01/12/2013 12:01:00 AM CST
January 13, 2013 1:35 AM GMTUpdated: 01/12/2013 07:35:48 PM CST

Academics and entrepreneurs nationwide have received copies of a massive database that the Minneapolis Police Department uses to track the location of cars. Where some see business or research opportunities, the city sees a public safety risk.

The data come from the city's network of automatic license plate readers -- cameras that record the locations of hundreds of thousands of cars every month.

Minneapolis has received at least 100 requests for data from its license plate scanners over the past five months, ever since the Star Tribune first reported on the existence of the data. Most requests came from people who wanted to know where the scanners had spotted an individual license plate. More than a third came from one man, Alex Peterson, who repossesses cars for a living.