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Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and Biometrics
Expect to hear an awful lot more about these new methods of policing.
ANPR has sprung from successful technologies used on schemes such as the London Congestion Charging (LCC) schemes. New technology is generally used as a testing ground for further expansion and changes to legislation. ANPR will be no exception to this rule. Senior police officers are calling ANPR a "revolutionary crime fighting tool" which can increase productivity or arrests per officer over tenfold.
The claim is that "For those people who have nothing to fear this technology holds no threat at all". Is this true?. If history tells us anything it is that such claims are always groundless and if technology can be abused by people in power it will.
The key functionality of ANPR is NOT to identify the vehicle but to identify the OWNER by means of the vehicle. Pilot studies initially centred around targeting vehicles based on intelligence known about it via its’ number plate. This is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ANPR’s true potential as an enforcement tool. The biggest productivity gains in the "crime fighting battle" will arise by linking in truly enormous amounts of information about a vehicle owner and will be used to target a wide range of "criminal" activity from drugs and organised crime to political lobbying and protest. ANPR issues are inextricablylinked to the issues surrounding ID cards, personal identify, privacy and biometrics.
In order to maximise these productivity gains numerous laws are being restructured to positively tie a given vehicle to an owner and to reduce to a minimum operation ambiguity about who could be driving the vehicle.
How Does ANPR Work?
All such technologies are based on simplistic neural network techniques made practical though the 1990s. The concept is that using "fuzzy" logic, computer systems can, effectively "guess" the character in question. At first such systems make errors but over time they "learn" to identify letters correctly.
This is known as a training period and mirrors the learning process which humans and animals must go through to correctly identify objects.
Since identification is problematic and training is specific to each character type then it should be obvious that a trained neural network is specific to a given character set. Developments in technology may allow a certain degree of accommodation but since some characters are harder to read than others such accommodation may result in errors and inaccurate recognition. Hence the stiff laws on deviating from a standard letter style on number plates!
This is the same technology used on your own personal computer to perform Optical Character Recognition on printed text (OCR).
As the technology has matured and computer systems speeded up then the ability to scan items in large quantities has increased. We are now at the stage where a number plate can be singled out, identified and the text read in fractions of a second - even on a moving vehicle.
Because of the above two things should be apparent. Firstly that the technology is not foolproof and is subject to a quantifiable level of error. Secondly, since different character sets can "fool" the system then hefty penalties are a requirement to making it "work". For this reason the most serious crime on the road will, ultimately be, having an unreadable number plate. This will eventually be mitigated once number plates are replaced with electronic tagging devices.
Are There Financial Benefits to The State?
Yes. There are plans to have these eventually linked into automatic charging systems and the majority of UK motorways changed over to toll roads. The benefit of this to the treasury should be immediately obvious and it can be expected to release huge amounts of cash for treasury central funding. Every time a new charging method is introduced and can be enforced over the top of the current ones (fuel tax, road tax and council rates) then the treasury multiplies its income by up to 100%.
Effectively this is a double-charging fraud. Yet even this claim is not fully inaccurate since the motorist will be defrauded by being charged several over for the same service despite already paying in full for the total cost of using the road network!. There are lots of vague arguments presented in opposition to this claim but none of them stand up to scrutiny. UK road funding issues are the subject of huge amounts of political "spin" and downright lies.
Are There Financial Benefits to The Road User?
In a word, no. Claims are always asserted that this will reduce Road Fund Licence evasion and this is to the benefit of all motorists.
The premises to such arguments are misleading and assume that there is a shortfall in national road funding which other "law-abiding" motorists have to make up. Again false.
The RFL scheme is massively over-funded with only a small proportion being used to "fund" investment on road infrastructure and repairs the rest being diverted into other areas. The current RFL scheme is fraudulent and represents possibly one of the biggest frauds in the UK.
The fact that excess funds are used for socially beneficial investments such as in the NHS is of no relevance since the funds are being demanded from road users on false pretences. Unfortunately we have a culture which believes it is not only acceptable for one portion of society to pick up the tab for another portion but, indeed, sees this as meritable.
This means the motorist is looked at, not as a valued citizen but an alien or simply wallet to be emptied in order to fund social restructuring.
We see that schemes such as SORN have been worthless and have achieved little other than criminalising the honest motorist who forgets to submit the renewal on time. There is no doubt that the criminal segment of society will be apprehended but the "hard core" of RFL evaders have no fixed abode and are subject. There are still claims that RFL evasion is running at 20-25% in the UK despite this being impossible under the SORN scheme if each car owner has a "fixed abode".
Are There Benefits In Terms of Law and Order?
Quite possibly. But as the ANPR scheme is on trial any absolute claims are premature. What could happen is that a "hardcore" social-segment of offenders decides to move out of ANPR-enforced areas. Should this happen then no doubt ANPR will be trumpeted as a "success" in reducing crime but will, as always, have simply shifted the problem elsewhere. Claims made during the introductory period of such schemes should be taken with a pinch of the proverbial. Of course arguments surrounding this issue are largely philosophical. It entirely depends on how you define the term "law and order". The 21st century has been marked by passing of increasingly undemocratic and antisocial laws championed by minority political pressure groups which enforce sanctions against huge and unwilling sections of society.
Is There Anything in ANPR To Be Worried About?
Definitely, since recent history has shown that governments are increasingly operating outside moral frameworks and therefore, have not the slightest concern about using technology as a form of oppression.
There are numerous concerns to be worried about.
ANPR and related technologies offer the state a possibility which has never happened in the history of the human race. That of total and absolute observance of its population. Once such technologies are proved successful they will ALWAYS be expanded into other areas. Witness the use of the LCC as a proving ground for OCR/ANPR technologies.
Since each camera is capable of scanning thousands of vehicles every hour a whole network of them can be expected to scan in data and note the whereabouts of literally millions of cars every day. Some temptations to the state should be immediately obvious to the sceptical road user. Firstly there is the question of exactly how long such data is retained. Secondly and more importantly is the question of who gets to administer the data.
Thirdly and this is the scary one, who else is going to be allowed access to the data?
Although currently linked into road-related legal databases such as the DVLC the ANPR scheme will ultimately expand to link into almost every available legal database in the UK. Possibly even throughout the rest of Europe. Plenty of road users who laud the scheme at present might be a bit more reticent if they realised that ANPR will link into DHSS Benefit databases, medical history databases, prison databases, fine databases, credit control databases, drug databases, CSA child support and Social Services databases. Why would they do this?? Well here are some scenarios for you to chew over including the current, the likely and not-so-likely...
DHSS Benefit Databases - These will check for patterns of movement which indicate potential benefit fraud. If you're unemployed then you can't possibly have money for private travel or be able to afford to travel widely. Expect to be pulled over regularly on "sus" of criminal fraud if you are out of work.
Medical History Databases - Have a health problem. Well it may be legal now but certainly not in the future. EU directives on road licenses demand massive reductions in both cars on UK roads and licences held.
Part of this strategy will be met by "clamping down" (as will be trumpeted in the press) on unhealthy drivers. Those who's eyesight is ok for current regulations but who will fail in 2-3 years time. Expect to be pulled up on "sus" just to make sure you're wearing your glasses. Had a medical problem but not declared it to DVLA. Don't worry, your doctor and medical records will reveal it to ANPR so expect to be pulled over.
Prison Databases - Been away on holiday recently? Spent time at one of Her Majesty's Holiday Camps??. Expect to be pulled in regularly "on sus" once the ANPR system thinks your movements "look suspicious".
Probation Databases - On probation?. Take care you stay the right side of the law as ANPR will monitor your every move if you choose to use your own vehicle. Steal one and you have no problem as long as you change the number plates. As officers opposed to ANPR rightly point out, cameras such as ANPR only affect the law-abiding.
Police Intelligence Databases - Who knows what is held about you? Who has reported you? What malicious gossip or unfortunate material has found its way onto your "police record". Again, even if it may not be true the day will almost certainly come when false information fed to the police by snoops and snitches will affect whether you are pulled up or not.
Crime/Registration Database - This one is pretty obvious Passport and Immigration Databases - If you don't exist as a EU citizen then its going to be almost impossible for you to drive a car unless your "cousin" or "brother" forges information. Get yourself declared an "uncitizen" and you'd better forget about driving that car for a while and take the bus!.
Public Identity Databases - Such a database does not yet exist It would serve the ID card both when it starts as "voluntary" and later when it becomes a imprisonable offence not to register. This will probably be linked into the passport database but it may not. Once ID cards are made compulsory (about 2008) the ANPR will work by providing ID information via the PID. By that time criminals will have evolved a network capable of creating false IDs. As long as the criminal can evade arrest then a string of false IDs can render any ANPR system useless other than to victimise the "law-abiding". By that time the distinction between law abiding and non law-abiding will be extremely tenuous.
Insurance Databases - A core issue for ANPR. There are widespread claims that ANPR can tell if a vehicle is insured or not. This is false (at present anyway). What it can only do is tell if a car is insured. That’s it. The difference is subtle but important. Currently not all insurers link to the national database. Some are still paper-based. This means that cars which it cannot positively eliminate as "insured" may or may not be insured. This further means that if you are insured with an insurer who does not participate in the national database then you are very likely to get pulled up on "sus". Some may consider this to be a violation of human rights and an example of police over-reaching their authority. Others see police authority as absolute and omnipotent. You "pays yer money and takes yer pick". Other examples of abuse are where you are insured quite legally under third party extension cover for a vehicle which you do not own but where the owner has not themselves insured the vehicle. Whilst legal this is frowned on as it neutralises the potential of ANPR and this would never do. Again, despite being 100% legal if your policy provides cover this will be portrayed as a "loophole" to be closed. Instances of some very dirty tricks by police on TPE insurance have reached Notts. MAG. Always check with your insurer and preferably get something in writing before using TPE and remember that the proof of EVERY insurance policy can ONLY be decided in a court of law so don't waste time arguing with the police. In the future, instead of being a personal contract to cover a risk, insurance will end up operating like another tax which will eliminate all loopholes.
Insurance will also be bound to a vehicle rather than a person in order to make identification easier. Witness the death of rider policies.
ASBO Databases - Banned from being in a given area under an ASBO order?. You can take it for granted that your intention to violate the order even if it’s unavoidable due to route diversions won't go un-noticed. There was a recent case where an ASBO was declared which violated the person's rights to receive medical treatment since their treatment centre was in the ASBO restricted area. The use of ASBOs is increasingly controversial.
Drug Databases - History of drug abuse? Had convictions?. You will certainly be pulled over at regular intervals just to "check" that you're not DUI or carrying illicit substances in your vehicle.
Conviction Databases - Drunk Driving conviction?. If you are driving your car at kicking out time then the ANPR system will target you as a "potential" whether you've had a beer or not. Have over 3 points on your licence?. This will be added to the weighting factor when the system decides if you need to be pulled on "sus".
Fine Databases - This has already been implemented now. Have unpaid fines? You will get pulled over either by patrol cars or stopped at frequent road blocks. Cars have already been seized as police link with bailiffs to enforce court orders.
CCJ Debt Databases - County Court Judgements for civil debts can be enforced easily via ANPR. If not stopped by patrols or roadblocks your whereabouts and movements will be supplied back to bailiffs. (See credit databases)
Credit Control Databases - Whilst not (yet) a criminal offence any weighting supplied by Credit Databases can be included in the decision whether or not you get stopped.
CSA Databases - Has your wife gone AWOL with the next door neighbour taking the kids with her? Your Spiderman costume at the cleaners? Well your predicament will get the "spider-senses" tingling back at the ANPR HQ computer. This is already one area where protesters rightly point out that the law makes a criminal out of innocent men who are frequently the actual victims in these cases. The fact that it’s unfair that she's saddled you with a huge debt as well as shacking up with your best mate won't stop you getting pulled over if you owe her money. Don't expect women to be victims of ANPR in reverse situations. It ain't gonna happen.
Customs and Excise Databases - If you intend to take full advantage of the "common market" then you may find the current stance on personal cross-border shopping taken by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise reinforced somewhat when their database begins to keep track of how much "duty paid" you are bringing in using a given vehicle. The fact that what they're doing is not just illegal under EU law but actually breaches the core raison d'etre of the EU existing in the first place will be of little help when your car gets crushed!. You have just as much right to purchase duty-paid goods without harassment in France as
you have in Scotland. The fact that the French charge lower rates of duty is of no consequence since the duty is properly paid under EU law. Hopefully Her Majesty's Government will be successfully prosecuted by the ruling French government on this issue if the EU is to retain and semblance of credibility. At present the VAT man is above the law but don't hold your breath waiting for ANPR to "crack down" on this particular criminal.
Social Events and Festivals - Does the government consider you an "undesirable". Yet another tiresome "crack-down"?
This BBC story might worry you - "Officers have been working on a database of people who will be targeted if they decide to attend the Stafford V Festival. A range of measures will be used to deter criminals at the festival including Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) devices, which will be used at entrance gates". Here ANPR is already used as part of social control and control of social mobility. Some of us may disagree who the state believes to be a "criminal".
Car Park ANPR Databases - Not really sure why private companies such as NCP are investing in ANPR and use facial recognition technology - or how your human rights are affected by the data they record on you. But this is already here. The claims of "reductions in vehicle theft" seem bizarre given that crooks won't really care whether the stolen car is recorded by ANPR and would have its plates changed shortly after being stolen. Also, the obvious fact that it won't be "stolen" until someone notices it gone appears to have escaped them. Connections to national police ANPR or other intelligence databases would be very easy.
Town Centre CCTV/ANPR Databases - ANPR will be installed in most town centre and municipal CCTV monitoring systems. Already CCTV led to a massive cutback in "on the ground" policing and closures of police stations on the wholly bogus claims that such cutbacks were justified by improvements in "efficiency" provided by CCTV. Bearing in mind the tenfold (1000%) "productivity" increases claimed for ANPR you can expect more of the same.
Petrol Station ANPR - Petrol stations are already being fitted with ANPR linked to the police systems. What better place since, sooner or later, everyone has to fill up with fuel. Of course the "loopholes" will be using a plastic can and siphoning from other vehicles. Don't be surprised when petrol cans are outlawed by EU dictate and siphoning suddenly attracts a custodial sentence, hefty fine and personal property confiscation.
Hate Crime Databases - The increasing trend is for those with differing political views or who strongly voice political views to be targeted with the label of "hate crime" in the basis that expressing your human right to free expression might incite hatred. Of course this is a
cynical abuse of supposed "inalienable rights" guaranteed under the 1948 UN charter. ANPR makes it easy for those involved in political activist groups to travel and counsel their membership. Political Crime Database - Only one step on from Brunstrom's "hate crime" panacea is the concept of political crime. Say something your government doesn't like?. Share or hold a viewpoint which isn't Politically Conformist (PC) and see how many black stars are added to your ANPR rating!. Such databases are likely only to exist in MI5 systems but watch out for more of these in the near future.
Protest and Political Databases - If you are involved with any militant campaign group such as anti-cruelty, antiabortion, feminist, anti-hunt, pro-hunt or father's rights or any other "unapproved" political campaign group then not only will your movements be monitored using ANPR networks but your right to join others in expressing your political views or to campaign, protest or lobby will be seriously impacted by ANPR.
Social Services Databases - Had a run in with a goon at Social Services?. Unfortunately their report on you, once fed into their databases can add negative brownie points and could be the reason you get pulled over regularly on "just a routine check sir". Had a row over custody of the kids? You can have absolute certainty that you will be stopped on the instructions of the SS so they can take your kids into custody.
MI5 and Secret Service Databases - Member of a controversial political party or a weird religion?. If so you had better decide to join one of the mainstream ones as your movements will be tracked and if you are up to what the incumbents think is "no good" then you can expect to be pulled over quite often.
Strikes and Trade Union Databases - Anyone old enough Anyone pulled over in a roadside check that was suspected of being a miner or trades unionist was not allowed to travel and was turned back and forced to return home even if they were just off to the local shops or were actually working miners. Should this happen again then instead of a small number of people being inconvenience NO affected people would be allowed to travel at all. They wouldn't even be able to resort to other vehicles since every possible "loophole" has been closed up.
Kerb Crawler Databases - As UK speed limits are lowered to walking pace. (20mph is advocated and campaigned for by the BBC as a global limit with 10 or 15mph recommended in some areas) kerb crawling speeds will become mandatory yet since ANPR is now already used to spot "suspected" kerb-crawlers then you will find yourself in a heads you lose/tails you lose situation.
Employment Reference Databases - Poor employment record? Get sacked a lot?. Throw the odd sickie here and there? Perhaps you're off sick now and should be at home in bed?. Again, every little detail can help the referencing system decide if you're kosher or need to be pulled over and checked out.
Lending Library Databases - This one is daft enough to definitely happen. Forgot to take that book back in 1972? owe £100 in fines on it now?. Think you got away with it?
Voter Databases - This is the real horror which, hopefully, will never happen. If Blunkett or a successor ever succeeded in making electronic voting compulsory then there would be a record of who voted for which party. Once such a concept was widely accepted over time then the usual strategy of taking advantage of collective public amnesia can be used to "flex" or "leverage" the use of such information as a "key weapon in the war against terrorism and crime". If you are forced to vote in an e-Voting scheme you may want to think VERY carefully about who you vote for and which party currently holds they keys to these databases. The possibility of this must be watched very closely as any implementation would lead to widespread abuse and curtailment of public freedom followed by the collapse of what currently passes as a pastiche of democracy.
How does this work? Well, its utter simplicity. Once the various databases are linked a relatively simple algorithm (set of rules) can apply weighting factors to each entry you have in the various databases and include other weighting factors such as location, time of day etc.
The rule set is relatively trivial and would not need any new technology whatsoever. The police officer (or police contractor - more of that later) won't even make a conscious decision. An alert will simply sound in his car telling him to pull the particular vehicle over and supply a printout onscreen of what to check for. This is a major dumbing-down factor in UK policing which means that the requirement for skill by police officers can be demonstrated as unnecessary. Have points on several such databases and alarm bells will ring very loudly each time you get in your car and drive into an ANPR area. It was recently announced that round 1 in 12 people stopped at ANPR roadblocks was prosecuted. However that means that 11 out of 12 (91%) had their rights unjustifiably breached. Furthermore, something like 99.99999999999999999999% of people lost their privacy by having their movements monitored. Whether this is "right" or "wrong" is academic.
What is important is whether the public wants to give up its human rights in order that the criminal minority can be kept in check to a tiny degree. Remember that such rights aren't being abandoned to eliminate crime. Despite all claims to the contrary that will never happen. Is it really a price worth paying?. You decide.
There have been a number of outspoken claims by senior police officers and politicians that ANPR would not be used in this way but recent changes prove this to be absolutely false. The Daily Express article for the 1st of November highlights that ANPR has already been expanded and linked into the National Fines Database and roadblocks are already being used to stop drivers on "sus" for defaulting on fines. Anyone who claims this isn't going to happen must either be comatose or stupid.
When the data captured by ANPR is released for commercial exploitation this means that anyone with a few pounds will be able to track and monitor your whereabouts or establish your regular pattern of movements.
It won't happen at first and you will definitely hear the customary harrumphs of it never happening in Britain but happen it will. Later, if not sooner. Contentious laws are generally introduced using a rather devious game plan of contrived innocuousness. Fines are set deliberately low, fees low or absent (e.g. free SORNs as an introduction to the planned vehicle ownership tax), enforcement low, risks low, abuses of personal liberty all set low.
The reason for this is that once a law is passed in the UK our current political situation means it is almost impossible for it ever to be repealed.
Knowing this, politicians who champion a more extreme implementation just need to wait a few months until the public has forgotten all about the issue then revert back to "Plan A", jack up fines and abuse civil rights. Bad laws have regularly been passed using this strategy in recent years. Because of the potential for abuses of civil liberty and privacy ANPR needs very strong controls. Unfortunately we simply don't have a government which is either accountable or which is concerned about issues of civil rights.
How ANPR Will Fail
Currently there are major successes as few criminals realise that ANPR is operating or, more importantly, where it is operating. Due to this there have been major successes in netting drugs and recovering stolen vehicles. Politicians will be suckerpunched by these successes into investing huge amounts of cash into ANPR systems to cover every major city in the UK.
What will go wrong?. Well, once crooks realise that cities are covered by ANPR they will simply switch to "cloning" number plates from law-abiding road users as now happens in Central London. This leaves the crooks unchallenged since ANPR won't be able to tell the difference and serious criminals won't even be slightly concerned about the illegality of doing it. This is where having skilled officers "on the ground" would be more of an advantage.
Early successes with ANPR demonstrate that expensive police officers can be replaced by automata. It won't be true but the politicians will definitely buy into it and sod the long term consequences.
This is because the massive cost-savings envisaged are the holy grail for politicians who want to spend road and policing revenue on other more politically convenient things such as hospitals and tax cuts at election time in order that they can get elected for another four moron years.
It will be extremely tempting to hype up the successes of ANPR, CCTV and biometrics and in many cases to simply lie about incidents in order to "beef up" support for their introduction.
This recent incident where CCTV involvement was hyped up by almost all of the UK media indicates what ANPR critics need to be aware of...
"A railway worker caught on CCTV trying to snatch a girl on a street has been jailed for four years. An off-duty police officer, PC Noel Duke, had seen the girl walking alone and had alerted colleagues. They trained CCTV cameras on the area and police arrived at the scene seconds after Graw ran away."
Abductor Caught on CCTV Is Jailed (BBC) "Dieter Graw, 47, tried to kidnap the 16-year-old in Adwick, Doncaster, in June 2003. The footage caused outrage when it was screened on TV."
The implication of this and other media headlines reporting this case is that somehow CCTV surveillance was instrumental in foiling the attempted attack on the girl walking home alone early in the morning.
In fact, CCTV had nothing to do with this incident: "An off-duty police officer, PC Noel Duke, had seen the girl walking alone and had alerted colleagues. They trained CCTV cameras on the area and police arrived at the scene seconds after Graw ran away. The attacker was obviously not deterred from committing a crime by the presence of CCTV surveillance, which he was probably unaware of."
CCTV Hype in Doncaster
How ANPR Will Link Into Other Systems
David Blunkett and now Charles Clarke have a particular obsession with forcing identity (ID) cards on us. To some extent this is not entirely their fault as some of the impetus arises from undemocratic edicts from the EU. Undemocratic here means that, no, you don't get a vote on this issue! The particular edict is that the UK will implement a means of positively identifying every person in the UK. It’s just a good job that 911 happened to help justify the proposals and silence a large number of potential critics who ought to be doing their job and pulling holes in the proposals.
ID cards are a "natural" for linking into a UK driving licence. What’s more the whole system is an obvious candidate for incorporation with a huge number of nasty proposals which the media are keeping very quiet about at present. These include biometrics, bio-"chipping" of people, satellite tracking of people and vehicles, remote speed control and "on chip" storage of all personal and biometric data possibly combined with banking and credit interfaces.
In other words we have only a few years left before technology and politics will converge to produce the ultimate control and tracking device which will either be based on a single credit/ID card or in an implantable biochip
The implantable RfID chip is no longer new technology, it’s already implemented. RfID chips have been used for years in stores as a way of tracking goods. The technology is already here and working for them to be implanted into humans. There are plans for compulsory chipping of convicts, children and pets. All of which will be announced sooner or later as a way of protecting "vulnerable" people.
Once implemented there will be some crossover between ANPR and camera technology and radio frequency tracking by microchip. It would be hard to decide which of the two systems would remain if only one had to be chosen. However a safer bet is that both systems will remain on account of the ease with which the two systems could be integrated.
It may only be a matter of years before you wake up in the morning and have to pinch yourself to believe that you're not starring in a very cheap and nasty sci-fi horror film. Hmmm "bulk crime?" - Perhaps we get the same crime, but cheaper?...
"This [Project Laser] will bring a sea change in how ANPR is used in the UK, moving it from being a specialist intelligencegathering tool to putting it at the heart of police efforts to reduce bulk crime". (Brunstrom)
Why ANPR is Bad For Policing in The UK
If you have read this far then it should be immediately obvious that "productivity" claims for ANPR will include truly massive gains on manual policing. A lot of the early claims will be negated as society adjusts to their presence. However, by then the damage will be done and it will be viewed as a massive technological leap in policing which can then be used as an "enabler" to make substantial alterations in the way our police forces do business.
Those who commit crimes which don't involve road vehicles or travelling around in private motor vehicles might well find life a lot easier as the focus of policing in the UK moves to automated methods. Spot checks reveal that the shift to speed cameras since Labour came to power has led to a massive increase in people driving over the drink-drive limit.
This represents just one of the major failures of automated policing.
Claims are always made that officers are released from road duties to patrol other areas but if this actually happened in the long term then the anticipated cost benefits would be lost.
While it may happen in the short term the future doesn't look so orange.
Old time coppers and seasoned lobbyists will smell a rat whenever the term "productivity" is mentioned, particularly in relation to policing, since this applies a measuring technique for manufacturing industry on what is now seen as a "service industry". Both use of this technique and considering law a form of service are fundamentally misguided ideas.
No doubt there will be plenty of other drawbacks of the system. Its early days yet and the system is still on trial so watch this space for updates.
What Others Say About ANPR and Biometrics
Home Secretary David Blunkett said: "ANPR is a powerful tool - its impact goes far beyond the roads" (Government 365) Since June 2003, forces have been able to recycle revenue from fixed penalties detected by ANPR technology to part-finance the expansion of the system, meaning that those who breach the law pay for its policing. In the first nine months of operation, £1 million was raised which helped improve the intelligence capability of ANPR teams, and contributed to administrative support. (Government 365)
ANPR systems can check up to 3,000 number plates per hour on vehicles travelling up to 100 mph. Number plates are then checked against a variety of databases including the Police National Computer, DVLA databases and local intelligence databases (Government 365) Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments on: biometric documents for visas and resident third country nationals to be introduced by 2005 biometric passports/documents for EU citizens to follow "compulsory" fingerprints and facial images data and personal information to be held on national and EUwide databases admission that powers of data protection authorities cannot cope no guarantees that data will not be made available to non-EU states (e.g.: USA)
"These proposals are yet another result of the "war on terrorism" which show that the EU is just as keen as the USA to introduce systems of mass surveillance which have much more to do with political and social control than fighting terrorism.
To the proposed surveillance of all telecommunications is added the control of movement of all visitors and third country nationals, to be followed by that of EU citizens too. How long will it be before there will be a compulsory EU identity card? All the data will be held on the
EU-wide Schengen Information System which can be accessed by tens of thousands of officials - how long will it be before biometrics collected for travel documents will be used for other purposes?
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2003/sep/19eubiometric.htm
Why We Hope We Are Wrong About ANPR and Biometrics
Such systems give the state absolute power over the population. As everyone must know, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
We can only hope that such dire prognostications prove false and that the world which George Orwell warned us not to "let happen" doesn't come about. Unfortunately much of it is already here and has crept up on us much like a thief in the night. Nothing would please us more than to be proven that everything in this report was unfounded in 5 or 10 years time but the future doesn't look so bright.
Conclusion - ANPR and People Watching
There comes a precise point in any train wreck or aeroplane crash when the collision becomes inevitable. This is called the point of no return. It may be a substantial amount of time until the collision actually happens and until it does the passengers may have absolutely no idea of the events which are about to unfold. This metaphor applies to many other situations, particularly the case of "people monitoring", biometrics and ANPR.
We have already passed that point of no return with respect to losing almost all of the freedoms fought for during the 1940s. There is no longer any going back to how things were. Not without a bloody fight anyway. Enjoy your freedom, ride free whilst you can and build up a store of happy memories ......because the future is already a fait accomplis.
Key Phrases Related to ANPR
These are concepts related to the ANPR issue. You may not hear them mentioned in the press. In fact their mention may be deliberately being avoided and only mentioned in internal memos. They may be useful in broadening any Google search.
Technology convergence
Drivers for change
Productivity gains
Intelligent policing
The changing role of the police in society
Cost savings and cost benefits
Tax savings
Total awareness
Outsourcing
Human rights
Terrorist threat
Globalism
Media Articles
If you are interested in the whole area of identity tracking, including ANPR, ID cards, citizen intelligence, excess police and government powers then you may be interested in the following sites.
http://mag.amadis.sytes.net/issues/anpr/index.htm
http://www.no2id.net/
ID cards change the burden of proof enshrined in the Magna Carta - innocent until proven guilty. We will all be asked to prove we are British.
Each month about 100 people are wrongly accused of having a criminal record by Capita, who run the Government’s Criminal Records Bureau. Will they repeat similar life changing mistakes when they control the National Identity Register? Can these people really handle the records of over 47 million people? 01/Feb/2005 - Silicon Snake Oil?
The National Audit Office survey of drivers and vehicle keepers in 2003 for the Operational Research Unit of the DfT estimated driver records to be between 26% to 34% inaccurate. Eight percent of records had one error, two percent had two errors and 21 percent of records had three or more errors. For vehicle records, the level of accuracy was estimated to be 32% inaccurate which is the equivalent of 10.5 million vehicles (GB parc = 32 million vehicles). Nearly 17 percent of vehicle records had one error, seven percent had two errors and eight percent had three or more errors.
For a copy of the NAO report Reducing Vehicle Crime - http://www.nao.gov.uk
For the Governments position on ID Cards:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs4/Id_Cards_Briefing.pdf
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmhaff/130/13002.htm
This article has been written by a MAG member who is an IT Systems expert Copyright (C) Notts. MAG 2004,2005 - Unauthorised Use Forbidden
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