VOA慢速英語:License Plate Readers Raise Privacy Concerns

From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report.

這里是美國(guó)之音慢速英語科技報(bào)道。

Law enforcement agencies across the United States are using cameras to take pictures of automobile license plates. The idea is to build a computerised collection of information detailing the daily travel of millions of Americans.

美國(guó)各地的執(zhí)法機(jī)構(gòu)都在使用相機(jī)拍攝汽車車牌，他們的想法是建立一個(gè)電腦化的信息集合體，詳細(xì)記錄數(shù)百萬計(jì)美國(guó)人的日常出行。

Arlington County Police Detective Mohammed Tabibi is with the Automobile Theft Department. He uses a license plate readers, also known as a LPR to look for stolen vehicles.

阿靈頓縣警局的警探Mohammed Tabibi就職于汽車防盜部門。他使用一臺(tái)車牌識(shí)別器搜尋被盜車輛。

"It has paid dividends. We have caught some people involved in some serious crimes because of the LPR," said Tabibi.

他說，“車牌識(shí)別器已經(jīng)做出了貢獻(xiàn)，有了它的幫助，我們已經(jīng)抓獲一些涉及嚴(yán)重犯罪的人。”

The use of LPRs is growing across the United States. Some are secured to poles along roadsides, others are placed in law-enforcement vehicle. Privacy groups are concerned about the growing use of these devices. They say the information collected is stored on computers and shared with other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

車牌識(shí)別器的應(yīng)用在美國(guó)各地日趨增長(zhǎng)。它們有些固定在道路沿線的電線桿，有些安裝在執(zhí)法車輛上。隱私團(tuán)體對(duì)這些設(shè)備使用日趨頻繁深感擔(dān)憂。他們表示，車牌識(shí)別器收集到的信息儲(chǔ)存在電腦上，并和聯(lián)邦、州以及其它當(dāng)?shù)氐膱?zhí)法機(jī)構(gòu)共享。

Jay Stanley is with the American Civil Liberties Union(ACLU).

杰伊·斯坦利就職于美國(guó)公民自由聯(lián)盟( ACLU ) 。

"What they are also doing is storing everybody's time, place, and location. And many police departments are holding that information indefinitely. You know in our society, the government doesn't follow you and invade your privacy and track you unless it has a specific reason that you are involved in wrongdoing," said Stanley.

他說，“他們還記錄了美國(guó)人的時(shí)間、地點(diǎn)和位置。并且許多警察部門無限期保存這類信息。你知道在美國(guó)，政府不會(huì)監(jiān)視你，不會(huì)侵犯你的隱私，不會(huì)跟蹤你，除非是因?yàn)槟闵婕安环ㄐ袨椤?rdquo;

Until recently, Kevin Rearden served as Captain of the Arlington county Police, he also headed the county's Homeland Security Department before he retired. Mr Rearden said, county policy calls for the LPR information to be kept for six months.

凱文·里爾登擔(dān)任阿靈頓縣警局警監(jiān)直到最近，他在退休前還負(fù)責(zé)過該縣的國(guó)土安全部。里爾登先生表示，縣級(jí)政策要求車牌識(shí)別器的信息保存6個(gè)月。

"We originally had a two-month period, and the detectives requested the chief extend it to six months because they found in so many investigations, keeping it for two months wasn't long enough," said Rearden.

里爾登說，“我們最初保存該信息兩個(gè)月，警探向領(lǐng)導(dǎo)要求將其延長(zhǎng)至6個(gè)月，因?yàn)樗麄冊(cè)诤芏嗾{(diào)查中發(fā)現(xiàn)，保存兩個(gè)月時(shí)間不夠長(zhǎng)。”

But he said, other law enforcement agencies that use the county's information may store it for unlimited periods of time.

但他表示，其它使用該縣信息的執(zhí)法機(jī)構(gòu)可能會(huì)無限期的保存它們。

Supporters of privacy rights say they have no problem with police departments taking pictures of license plates to investigate crimes. But Jay Stanley says, they're against storing the information for long periods of time.

隱私權(quán)支持者表示，他們對(duì)警察部門拍攝車牌查案并無異議。但斯坦利表示，他們反對(duì)長(zhǎng)期儲(chǔ)存這些信息。

"...Once you are past a certain periods of time, it is very unlikely it is going to be useful. Meanwhile we are creating this giant infrastructure for tracking everybody all the time," said Stanley.

“這些信息一旦過去一段時(shí)間就不太可能還有用。而與此同時(shí)，我們把這一龐大的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施用于時(shí)刻跟蹤人民。”

Retired Arlington country Captain Rearden disagrees.

阿靈頓縣退休警監(jiān)里爾登對(duì)此并不贊同。

"They keep bringing up the word tracking. And if I went out and ran your tag in our server, I would not be able to track you. I would be lucky if I could put [you in] a few places in Arlington in a particular time. By no stretch of the imagination would I be able to track you," said Rearden.

里爾登說，“他們一直提出跟蹤這個(gè)詞。如果我去我們的服務(wù)器上搜索你，我并沒有辦法跟蹤你。如果我能在特定時(shí)間，在阿靈頓縣的一些地方發(fā)現(xiàn)你的蹤跡，那是我運(yùn)氣好。我怎么也想不通我怎么能跟蹤你。”

The ACLU says Americans need to know how federal officials are using the information collected from LPR cameras, the group has brought federal charges against the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security.

美國(guó)公民自由聯(lián)盟表示，美國(guó)人必須知道聯(lián)邦官員如何使用車牌識(shí)別器攝像頭收集的信息。該組織已經(jīng)對(duì)司法部和國(guó)土安全部發(fā)起聯(lián)邦指控。