Digital License Plates Are Available in Some States, But People Have Concerns

By Cleo Scott

 

An increasing number of car owners across the country are now able to toss their old metal license plates and upgrade to a digital one. But this new car enhancement is already raising privacy concerns.[1]

Digital license plates are currently only made by one company, Reviver.[2] They are described as vehicle-mounted identification devices that produce a radio signal for tracking and digital monitoring.[3] Owners can also customize their digital plates by changing the color and border displays.[4] The digital plates connect to an app which allows owners to use vehicle location services, security features, stolen vehicle reports, and registration renewals without needing stickers or visiting a DMV location.[5] Additionally, the plates can display emergency messages, such as when there is an AMBER Alert.[6]

Many think that digital plates will make our lives much easier. “It’s really going to be much more beneficial for them and make our processing much more efficient,” California DMV Policy Division deputy director Bernard Soriano told ABC30 Fresno. “It’s a big change, we’re no longer your father’s DMV, and I think it’s something we can all embrace and be part of.”[7] Cars with digital plates are legal to drive anywhere in the United States.[8] However, the plates are only available for purchase and DMV registration in Michigan, Arizona, California, and Texas for commercial vehicles.[9] California is the latest state to allow digital plates for everyone in the state.[10] Governor Gavin Newson signed a law in late September 2022 extending the digital option to all drivers.[11]

Notably, the built-in location tracker in the plates will allow the police to locate the car if it’s stolen.[12]  However, people are feeling uneasy about the plates’ tracking capabilities.[13] Back in 2018, San Francisco’s nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group that promotes civil liberties in the digital world, stated that the devices will turn individual cars into a “honeypot of data” because it will “record the drivers’ trips to the grocery store, to protests, or to an abortion clinic.”[14] “Your locational history has the potential to reveal a lot more than . . . where you happen to be at a particular moment in time,” said Stephanie Lacambra, a criminal defense attorney for the foundation. “It can reveal your associations, who you speak with, where you go to work, where you live.”[15]

However, California Assembly member Lori Wilson says the tracking features on the plates can be disabled on privately owned cars and that the California bill allows for regular review of safety measures.[16] “Anytime that our [California Highway Patrol] or we feel like safety is a concern in terms of license plates being altered in any kind of way, they can pull that back and make sure that is taken care of before it’s continued use,” Wilson said.[17] Reviver claims they have taken measures to deter hacking and your plates from being stolen.[18] “Both our RPlate Battery and RPlate Wired have tamper-proof mounting, robust built-in anti-theft features, and communicate using secure cloud communication,” the company said on their website.[19] Reviver also states that it doesn’t share data with the DMV or law enforcement.[20] People are still worried about the trouble the digital plates may bring, especially employment attorneys.[21]

Steven Gallagher from Fox Rothschild LLP, said the digital plates are a “privacy nightmare” for employers.[22] He states that employers may only monitor employees using digital license plates if it is “strictly necessary” for the performance of the employee’s duties.[23] If an employer chooses to monitor employees’ whereabouts using digital plates, it must first provide the employee with a comprehensive notice, according to Gallagher.[24] A few of the requirements that must be in the notice include a description of the specific activities that will be monitored and a description of the dates, times, and frequency that the monitoring will occur.[25] Gallagher states that using digital plates to track employees also implicates several other privacy laws, including “obligations on employers for handling, storing, and conveying data retrieved from the plates.”[26] Gallagher thinks the digital plates aren’t worth the trouble they may bring employers.[27] “[The] privacy concerns (including data requirements), the potential civil penalties at stake, and risk that the Labor Commissioner will find tracking was not ‘strictly necessary’ probably outweigh the benefits for most employers,” he wrote.[28 Despite concerns, the list of states that allow their residents to purchase digital license plates may be growing.[29] Reviver says that at least another 10 states are in some way considering the adoption of digital license plates.[30]

 

 

 

 

[1] Joe Hernandez, California drivers can now sport digital license plates on their cars, NPR (Oct. 15, 2022, 11:53 AM), https://www.npr.org/2022/10/15/1129305660/digital-license-plates-california

[2] Renee Martin, Digital License Plates Now Legal for Everyone in California, WAY.COM (last visited Nov. 10, 2022), https://www.way.com/blog/digital-license-plates-california/#What_are_digital_license_plates

[3] Id.

[4] Vivian Chow, New California law legalizes digital license plates, KTLA (Oct. 12, 2022, 11:25 PM), https://ktla.com/news/california-wire/new-california-law-legalizes-digital-license-plates/

[5] Id.

[6] Id.

[7] Dustin Dorsey, California approves digital license plates for all vehicles; here’s how it works, ABC 30 (Oct. 11, 2022), https://abc30.com/digital-license-plates-california-what-are-plate-how-do-work/12316715/

[8] Reviver, https://reviver.com/geographic-expansion/#:~:text=United%20States,Arizona%2C%20California%2C%20and%20Michigan (last visited Nov. 11, 2022).

[9] Id; Hernandez, supra note 1.

[10] Hernandez, supra note 1.

[11] Id; see Assem. Bill 984, Ch. 746, 2021-2022 Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2022).

[12] Id.

[13] James Doubek, Digital License Plates Roll Out In California, NPR (June 1, 2018, 8:14 AM), https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/06/01/616043976/digital-license-plates-roll-out-in-california

[14] Rachel Swan, California’s digital license plates: road to convenience or invasion of privacy?, BOSTON.COM (May 31, 2018), https://www.boston.com/cars/car-news/2018/05/31/california-digital-license-plates/

[15] Id.

[16] Dorsey, supra note 7.

[17] Id.

[18] RPlate Security – can it be stolen or hacked?, Reviver (last visited Nov. 11, 2022), https://support.reviver.com/knowledge/rplate-security.

[19] Id.

[20] Hernandez, supra note 1.

[21] See Steven Gallagher, Digital License Plates – A Privacy Nightmare for Employers, Fox Rothschild LLP (Oct. 14, 2022), https://californiaemploymentlaw.foxrothschild.com/2022/10/articles/advice-counseling/digital-license-plates-a-privacy-nightmare-for-employers/

[22] Id.

[23] Id.

[24] Id.

[25] Id.

[26] Gallagher, supra note 21.

[27] Id.

[28] Id.

[29] See Sebastian Blanco, California Extends Digital License Plate Option to Everyone, Car And Driver (Oct. 8, 2022), https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a41564407/california-digital-license-plate-extended/.

[30] Id.

 

Image Source: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a34748524/digital-license-plates-coming-2021/