Back to speeding and cameras briefly - privacy

[michael]

On Tue, 1 Aug 2000, Richard D G Cox wrote:

> Using a foreign numberplate might be safer, unless/until there is some
> checking of registration plates of vehicles entering/leaving the country.

Needless to say, there is, at least, according to 
Duncan Campbell (the freelancer), writing in the Guardian, 
24 Sept 1997 :


	"All  vehicles entering or leaving the City of London
	or  British  seaports  are  being  watched  by  robot
	automatic number plate scanners (ANPS) which feed the
	data to the Police National Computer (PNC) in Hendon.
	
	The  PNC  replies within five seconds if the vehicles
	are "of interest" to the police.

		....

	"All  such  inquiries  are stored for data protection
	and  auditing  purposes.  This  means that historical
	records  from  the ANPS system could also be "mined",
	for  example  to analyse patterns of foreign travel."

	http://www.gn.apc.prg/duncan/875112275-phone.html


Things look just as grim for rail travellers with tickets
allocated unique five digit i.d. numbers allowing easy
reference to person billing data.
	
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