This stuff is so infuriating:
The American Civil Liberties Union revealed Wednesday that Virginia State Police (VSP) used automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) to record the identities and locations of people attending political events in the state, including President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration and 2008 campaign rallies for both Democratic and Republican candidates.
According to a press release at ACLU.org, state law enforcement agencies went on to compile a massive database of Virginians that they used to track the location of citizens throughout the state.
The ACLU obtained information about the program through a series of Freedom of Information Act requests, and says that the findings further illustrate the need for strict oversight of government use of technology to spy on citizens.
The organization said that while ALPRs have a legitimate function in law enforcement — tracking stolen vehicles or those which are frequently involved in crimes — the Virginia program “crossed well over the line from legitimate law enforcement to oppressive surveillance.”
We don’t have enough money to feed hungry children or cloth and house the poor. But we always have plenty of money to give to the NSA so that they can spy on us. Or to the military so that they can start another unnecessary and illegal war to ship us off to and be killed in. The priorities in these United States are ass backwards. For that we can thank the high priests of politics.