When the Profile Becomes the Population: Examining Privacy Governance and Road Traffic Surveillance in Canada and Australia

Abstract

Use of automated licence/number plate recognition (‘ALPR/ANPR’) technologies in Canada and Australia raises significant policy questions for privacy advocates and criminal justice practitioners. The proliferation of mass surveillance through ALPR/ANPR also presents several conceptual puzzles about the links among criminal justice data flows, individual privacy and state responsibility in this actuarial age. In this article, we use case studies of ALPR/ANPR in Canada and Australia to examine privacy as a technique for governing road traffic surveillance. We explain our findings in light of Harcourt's (2007) argument against the use of actuarial prediction and ‘hit rates’ that are rationalised as the chief measure of law enforcement activities and effectiveness. Finally, we question the regulation of surveillance technologies such as ALPR/ANPR through current Canadian and Australian information privacy laws, with specific focus on privacy by design (‘PbD’), a strategy that favours improving law enforcement efficiency at the expense of privacy.

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