SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Public safety technology company Axon Enterprise faces a federal lawsuit alleging it unlawfully collected, used and shared the personal information of millions of California drivers through its automated license plate reader network, raising questions about the privacy protections governing increasingly sophisticated surveillance technology.
The lawsuit, filed by attorneys from Hausfeld and Gibbs Mura, alleges that Axon violated California privacy law by collecting and using license plate information without providing the disclosures required under the state’s Automated License Plate Recognition Privacy Act.
According to Reuters, the proposed class-action lawsuit seeks more than $5 million in damages and an injunction prohibiting Axon from continuing practices the plaintiffs contend violate state law.
Automated license plate recognition systems, commonly known as ALPR technology, use networks of high-definition cameras and software to record vehicle license plates, locations and timestamps as vehicles travel along public roads.
Unlike conventional traffic enforcement cameras, which generally capture images when a suspected violation occurs, ALPR systems can continuously record passing vehicles, regardless of whether their drivers are suspected of wrongdoing.
The resulting information can be organized and analyzed to reconstruct a vehicle’s movements, identify travel patterns and reveal where individuals have traveled over time.
Although law enforcement agencies use ALPR technology to investigate crimes and locate vehicles, privacy advocates have raised concerns about the collection and retention of location information involving people who are not suspected of criminal activity.
California lawmakers addressed some of those concerns in 2015 with Senate Bill 34, which established privacy and security requirements for operators and users of automated license plate recognition systems.
The law, codified in California Civil Code Sections 1798.90.5 through 1798.90.55, requires ALPR operators and users to maintain reasonable security procedures and implement policies governing the collection, use, retention and sharing of license plate data.
The legislation also requires operators and users to maintain publicly accessible usage and privacy policies explaining how the information is collected, accessed, protected and disclosed.
Those requirements are intended to provide greater transparency about the collection of vehicle location information and establish safeguards against unauthorized access or misuse.
According to the plaintiffs, Axon accesses and uses ALPR information collected through its customers’ surveillance systems for purposes that are not adequately disclosed in a publicly accessible usage and privacy policy.
The lawsuit contends that Axon functions as both an ALPR operator and an end user under California law and therefore must comply with the statute’s disclosure, privacy and security requirements.
The plaintiffs allege that the company’s failure to provide the required disclosures violates those statutory obligations.
The allegations have not been adjudicated, and the filing of the lawsuit does not establish that Axon violated California law.
The case comes amid broader legal challenges to the use of automated license plate readers by law enforcement agencies.
In a separate lawsuit, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Electronic Frontier Foundation challenged the City of San Jose’s use of ALPR technology, alleging that its practices violated California privacy protections and constitutional rights.
The plaintiffs in that case argued that law enforcement agencies should be required to obtain a warrant before accessing certain license plate location information.
San Jose defended its practices, arguing that drivers generally do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy when traveling on public roads.
According to CBS News, the judge indicated preliminary agreement with aspects of the city’s position but requested additional legal research before issuing a ruling.
The litigation against Axon raises a related but separate legal question: whether a private company collecting and using vehicle location information through an ALPR network has complied with California’s statutory requirements governing the use and disclosure of that data.
The lawsuit, Ryan Mun et al. v. Axon Enterprise, seeks damages and court-ordered relief under California’s ALPR privacy law.
The outcome could affect how private surveillance technology companies disclose their data collection practices and comply with state requirements governing the retention, use and sharing of vehicle location information.
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