California officials consider using garbage trucks to spy on residents

Under a new proposal, sanitation workers could be picking up much more than trash during their weekly visits to residents’ homes.

Officials in San Jose, California, are working on a proposal to increase Big Brother’s spying powers by affixing law enforcement license plate readers to city garbage trucks.

According to a proposal from San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and Councilmen Johnny Khamis and Raul Peralez, the city wants to place license readers with the ability to send real-time information to the police to the front of each of the privately operated sanitation vehicles collecting trash in the city.

“We can cover every street at least once a week and possibly deter thieves from coming into our city,” Khamis told San Jose Mercury News.

Civil rights advocates, meanwhile, aren’t so enthused about turning trash collectors into government spies.

Northern California-based ACLU privacy attorney Chris Conley noted that the scheme would provide police with far more information than leads on stolen vehicles.

“If it’s collected repeatedly over a long period of time, it can reveal intimate data about you like attending a religious service or a gay bar,” the attorney told a local reporter. “People have a right to live their lives without constantly being monitored by the government.”

For Khamis, who noted that the readers are already operating on city police cars, privacy isn’t a concern.

“This is a public street,” Khamis said. “You’re not expecting privacy on a public street.”

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