Privacy Concerns Regarding the Electronic Tolling Proposed in: H.B. 5046, H.B. 5391, H.B. 5393, S.B. 389

Without proper protections, electronic tolling systems could jeopardize people's privacy rights. The ACLU of Connecticut weighed in on these bills regarding electronic tolling in order to raise serious privacy issues and suggest amendments to help protect people's rights.

Though each of these bills is directed at a different aspect of establishing an electronic tolling system in Connecticut, the ACLU of Connecticut weighed in on them collectively in order to raise serious privacy issues surrounding electronic tolling and suggest amendments that could help to protect people's rights.

People should not have to choose between moving freely in public and protecting their civil liberties. Without proper protections, electronic tolling systems could jeopardize people's privacy rights. The ACLU of Connecticut has serious concerns that automatic license plate reader (ALPR) systems installed on electronic tolls could be used by the government in ways that violate the First and Fourth Amendments. ALPR systems can open the door to retroactive surveillance of innocent drivers without a warrant, probable cause, or judicial oversight. In addition, ALPR databases could be ripe for abuse by the federal government. In 2018, Vigilant Solutions, a company that has contracted with the Connecticut Capitol Area Police Association to provide the region's license plate reader database, announced that it had signed an agency-wide contract to provide federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with access to its full database of license plate reader scans, leaving immigrants in Connecticut vulnerable to surveillance and targeting by ICE.