Meeting Public Comments

Christina Crew

The Fourth Amendment was written in end tyrannical "general warrants" blanket authority to search anyone, anywhere, anytime. The mass surveillance of Automatic Plate Readers revives that threat in digital form. Simply moving freely in public should not require that you be profiled, tracked, and scrutinized.

Christopher Wonsmos

Plate readers are an obvious plot to monetize the legal system. That's in addition to the authoritarian issues involved. Vote no.

Toni Holmes

Residents were not given an opportunity to opt out of being surveilled by these cameras that were installed in the community, which is a violation of our civil rights. License plate readers are different than traffic cameras in that they record the license plates of all vehicles that go by the reader whether drivers committed a crime or not. The collected data does not have sufficient safeguards to prevent its misuse by law enforcement or third parties throughout the country and the world. Ideally, I would like to see the cameras removed as there was no transparency when initially installed. If however, removal is not possible I do ask that there be safeguards in 1) who has access to the data collected, 2) how long the collected data is retained, and 3) warrants should be required when data is being requested. Lastly, there is no transparency portals by the municipality to include the cost to the taxpayer. Please vote no to license readers.

Mark Davis

I am a life long resident of Iowa, and a veteran with 23 years of service to this country. I value our freedoms and our right to privacy. I cannot imagine any member of the Legislature would agree to place a government tracker on every vehicle you own. ALPRs track our movement and travels. The companies such as Flock Safety and Vigilant (Motorola) gather the data and are then free to sell the data to any government agency or private company willing to pay. We are the data being sold. HF 2161 would require a warrant for after the fact searches of ALPR data bases. HF 2161 is at the very least a recognition that the right to privacy still exists in Iowa. I encourage you to support HF 2161.

Jane Robinette

Automated license plate readers are increasingly used around the state with little to no oversight or transparency. They collect and retain data on ALL people driving by, the vast majority of whom are not engaged in wrongdoing. The security of the data retained is uncertain. For all of these reasons, I'm glad to see the legislature begin to address ALPRs. State regulation is needed to protect the privacy of Iowans.

Ben Anderson

It is extremely important to adhere to founding principles of this country. The 4th Amendment requires that we not allow searches of ALPR records without a warrant. An even better solution is to prevent retention of the data in the first place if the data is deleted after a reasonable period (1 week?), then it cant be hacked or abused.

Kristine Frakes

It is good to see that our state legislature is addressing regulation of automatic plate readers. The data being collected by these automatic readers and shared across government agencies (law enforcement, schools), private businesses (big box stores, grocers) and services (home security devices) is invasive. And it is an intrusion on everyday, lawabiding Iowans' right to privacy. The industry and companies peddling these data capturing and data sharing systems seemingly lack oversight and accountability. With data as the new gold, state regulation to protect the privacy rights of Iowans against such broad data overreach is definitely a step in the right direction.

Lucy Hansen

Please support regulations for automated license plate readers (ALPRs). We cannot let such widespread surveillance occur without means to protect our privacy. They need oversight and accountability if they are to be used. Thank you,Lucy HansenTipton, IA

Jerry Depew

Thanks for taking up the license plate spy camera bill. Don't build a police state bigger than the one we already have!

Jonathan Auberg [ACLU of Iowa]

HF 2161 establishes reasonable guardrails on automatic license plate readers, a form of mass surveillance infrastructure. When widely deployed, these systems create a panopticon effect: people know their movements may be tracked, so they change their behavior. Research shows surveillance chills freedom of movement and association, even when no wrongdoing is involved.Regardless of effectiveness, government tracking at scale demands strict limits. Evidence that license plate readers significantly improve public safety over traditional policing remains limited.The bills safeguards24hour data limits, warrant requirements for extended access, local authorization, and audit loggingare basic accountability measures. If a technology cannot operate under these standards, it should not operate at all. HF 2161 strikes an appropriate balance.

Elaine Imlau

The current usage of automated license plate reader devices, the data collected and the lack of safeguards in their usage opens up too many opportunities for misuse and abuse threatening our civil rights and civil liberties. I ask for requiring warrants to access the data, limitations on how the data can be shared and a shorter limitation on how long the data can be retained.