Regulation Coming To Automatic License Plate Readers in Michigan

As Americans, we spend large portions of our life traveling in a vehicle, sometimes it may be a train, boat, bus, or airplane but most of the time, it's a car. The amount of time we spend in a car is astronomical, but we don't have a choice if we want to get everywhere we need to. That's why many people will tell you their vehicle is one of the biggest and most important purchases they made.

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In Michigan, every driver must take a written driving test to ensure they know the rules and laws of the road before they are eligible to take the road test. Once they pass both of these tests, they have earned a driver's license and are legally allowed to operate certain motor vehicles. In Michigan, every vehicle is required to be registered, have a license plate, and car insurance.

The car insurance piece is to make sure that if something happens to you or your car, those damages will be covered, and you'll have an opportunity to purchase a new car or heal with no added pressure. License plates are used so that authorities, insurance companies, and the government can keep track of which vehicles are owned by who and the infractions/incidents they have been involved in. Automatic license plate readers make this process easier, but they are in need of serious regulation in Michigan.

Do You Think Michigan Should Have Automatic License Plate Readers?

MLive via MSN reports:

Automatic license plate readers – cameras that capture and store images of vehicles – aren’t yet regulated in Michigan. A bipartisan bill package would change that. The bills would create clear limits on how data is collected, stored and shared, Wilson said, ensuring the tools are “used to improve public safety, not to enable routine mass surveillance.” License plate readers are small mobile or mounted surveillance cameras that capture vehicle license places as they pass by, sometimes snapping photos of as many as hundreds of plates per minute. In addition to license plates, the cameras capture other vehicle information, such as make and model.

State lawmakers don't want to disable or take the cameras away, but they would like to ensure the residents of Michigan that they aren't being watched consistently. Mass surveillance has been a concern for decades as technology has continued to evolve, this is another opportunity for the Michigan government to show they are letting people have free will.