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Location and surveillance technology permeates the driving experience. Setting aside external technology like license plate readers, there is some form of internet-connected service or surveillance capability built into or on many cars, from GPS tracking to oil-change notices. This is already a dangerous situation for many drivers and passengers, and a bill in California requiring GPS-tracking in digital license plates would put us further down this troubling path.
In 2022, EFF fought along with other privacy groups, domestic violence organizations, and LGBTQ+ rights organizations to prevent the use of GPS-enabled technology in digital license plates. A.B. 984, authored by State Assemblymember Lori Wilson and sponsored by digital license plate company Reviver, originally would have allowed for GPS trackers to be placed in the digital license plates of personal vehicles. As we have said many times, location data is very sensitive information, because where we go can also reveal things we’d rather keep private even from others in our household. Ultimately, advocates struck a deal with the author to prohibit location tracking in passenger cars, and this troubling flaw was removed. Governor Newsom signed A.B. 984 into law.
Now, not even two years later, the state’s digital license plate vendor, Reviver, and Assemblymember Wilson have filed A.B. 3138, which directly undoes the deal from 2022 and explicitly calls for location tracking in digital license plates for passenger cars.
To best protect consumers, EFF urges the legislature to not approve A.B. 3138.
Consumers Could Face Serious Concerns If A.B. 3138 Becomes Law
In fact, our concerns about trackers in digital plates are stronger than ever. Recent developments have made location data even more ripe for misuse.
- People traveling to California from a state that criminalizes abortions may be unaware that the rideshare car they are in is tracking their trip to a Planned Parenthood via its digital license plate. This trip may generate location data that can be used against them in a state where abortion is criminalized.
- Unsupportive parents of queer you
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