New tech adds phone tracking to license plate readers, associating devices with identifiable cars
License plate readers are widely used in the US. A new product marketed to police departments promises to add the ability to sense phones and other devices in passing cars.
License plate readers could soon be combined with technology that detects phones inside passing vehicles, linking devices to the cars they travel in. The system, called SignalTrace, is marketed by security company Leonardo and could associate devices with specific cars, even when investigators don't know the license plate number.
This would allow police to track people's movements and associations based on their devices, rather than their identities. The company claims SignalTrace does not identify people, only collecting electronic signatures from signals like Bluetooth or radio frequency identification tags. However, police could still identify the device's owner by linking its signal to other records, such as a car registered to that person.
While SignalTrace is not an established police practice yet, it has been installed in Oxon Hill, Maryland, and appears on a New York state contract price list. The technology raises privacy concerns, as repeated movement of devices can reveal personal information even if a name is not directly associated with it.
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