Four French municipalities were called to order on Tuesday by the Cnil, the guardian of the privacy of the French, which calls for the end of automatic ticketing systems by recognition of license plates.
“As part of a campaign of on-the-spot checks, the Cnil observed that a growing number of local authorities wanted to automate the process of reporting offenses that they are authorized to observe on the territory of their municipality (for example, rules relating to the inconvenient parking of vehicles on public roads) ”, indicates the institution in a press release published on its website. The Cnil did not wish to make public the names of the municipalities concerned.
Special conditions
But these sanction systems without human intervention, via photo and automatic reading of license plates, are only possible for violations of paid parking (non-payment or exceeding the authorized time), recalls the Cnil.
Criminal offenses such as inconvenient or dangerous parking cannot be dealt with in this way, as municipalities do not have the right to “collect photographic files” representing license plates to detect and sanction them.
"Circulate in public space anonymously"
The Cnil in particular monitors these automatic license plate recognition devices, which are potentially very intrusive for privacy.
They "result in the mandatory identification of all drivers wishing to park on public roads, as well as (...) the undifferentiated collection of all license plates of parked vehicles", she emphasized in 2018. They are "likely to reveal detailed information of the private life of individuals, and question the possibility offered to citizens, unless there is specific justification, to circulate in public space anonymously," she said.
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