Law-enforcement technologyIowa City to ban red-light cameras, drones, license plate readers

Iowa City could become the first city in the United States to issue a sweeping ban on three law-enforcement technologies: drones, license plate readers, and red-light cameras.

Privacy advocates say each of these technologies poses a threat to privacy, and the cumulative effect of using all three would turn America into a surveillance society.

Ars technica reports that the ordinance, advanced by a petition started by a local  citizen group, will completely ban license plate readers and red light cameras, but the language of the ordinance will allow drone use for parking enforcement if an officer is personally present.

The draft bill reads:

The City shall not:

A. Use any automatic traffic surveillance system or device, automatic license plate recognition system or device, or domestic drone system or device for the enforcement of a qualified traffic law violation, unless a peace officer or Parking Enforcement Attendant is present at the scene, witnesses the event, and personally issues the ticket to the alleged violator at the time and location of the vehicle

Woodrow Hartzog, a law professor and privacy expert at the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, is surprised by the language in the ordinance referring to drone use.

“That’s going beyond merely keeping an official ‘in the loop,’ for example, by being at a remote terminal reviewing potential or questionable citations,” Hertzog told Ars.

Iowa City is the only Iowa municipality allowing local petitions to turn into an ordinance that can be brought before the city council. According to Aleksey Gurtovoy of StopBigBrother.org, a local group leading the effort said the petition originally was only for red light cameras, but was expanded to be “proactive.”

“The city might say they have no plans [for drones or license plate readers] but it’s been our experience that this can change in a very short amount of time,” Gurtovoy told Ars. “What usually needs to happen is that someone comes into the city and says that you could use this tech to ‘benefit’ the public.”

Privacy experts are awed by the bill, saying they have never seen a law of this kind at any level of government. Lee Tien an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation said the ordinance was “pretty awesome to see.”

City attorney Eleanor Dilkes said she expects the ordinance to pass the second and third readings during city council meetings over the next two weeks. If the ordinance is approved after the third reading, it will become law on 27 June 2013.

“The city manager and I talked and that was the recommendation, as that it does not affect our current operations and that it’s only binding after a period of two years,” Dilkes told Ars.

Dilkes also added that the city has no plans to purchase drones or license plate readers at the moment, but did want to purchase license plate readers for parking enforcement purpose.