Court rules license plate readers illegal.

[zerodish]

I have been illegally pulled over by the police 600 times while cycling. Bicycles do not have license plates and the police believe they have the right to know who is traveling down their road. They have told me this. World famous lawyer Ray Thomas would put his bicycle on the top of his car drive to a remote town then go for a ride. When the police pulled him over he would then sue them. It is only going to get worse for us now that the law is changed. We will get pulled over more often. https://reason.com/2025/08/14/warrantless-use-of-license-plate-reader-cameras-is-unconstitutional/

[driftlessregion]

I read the article to say that these license readers are unconstitutional, a good thing. Am I missing something?
In 6 decades of cycling I have never been pulled over by the police, including multi-day tours in several states. I'm wondering how widespread this problem is.

[zerodish]

There was an obituary of a LosAngeles man who had been arrested 3000 times for public intoxication. He was not intoxicated but had Parkinsons. Think of how many people who are staggering around in LA from things worse than alcohol. The reality is police fixate on certain people and ignore others. I know how to play the game but refuse to do so.

[canalligators]

I've never been pulled over by the police.  Once on tour in 1970 I was patching a flat and they stopped, that was probably more of a welfare check.  But the police have been helpful to me while touring, multiple times.

I suspect there's more to this story, likely something that I wouldn't choose as my battle.

[Westinghouse]

In all of my extensive bicycle touring, police pulled me over only twice. The first time I was cycling on an interstate where another road I did not know existed ran next to it and parallel with it. It was at night. I had to dismount, lift all my stuff over a barbed wire fence, and use the other road. The second time was in North Florida. There was a 4-ft side lane. It was all chewed up for the laying in of more asphalt. It was jiggly and it sent vibrations through the bike and through my body. So I was bicycling to the left of the white line. They pulled up in back at me and asked me to stop. I explained to them that I could not use the roughened part of the road with a bicycle. Besides that, I had a legal right to be cycling where I was and the way I was doing it.

[davidbonn]

Sometimes it is helpful to carry copies of the relevant laws about the rights and responsibilities cyclists have when sharing a road with motor vehicles.  You need to remember that most police officers are not familiar with those laws.

[BikeliciousBabe]

Maybe I am missing something in the article, but I don't see a ruling on anything other than a motion to dismiss.  Denying a motion to dismiss is not a determinative ruling on a case.

[zerodish]

There are now 40000 FLOCK AI cameras in use that read license plates and report to law enforcement. These are privatized which prevents the government from being sued. Any one can buy the information and any one can buy a camera for &2500. The public didn't win they were allowed to win because the government now has something better. After Ian a malfunctioning red light camera was issuing 20 citations a second in Orland Fl. I did a post about this on the Pentax forums. Things are still going to get worse for us. I got this from the Hampton Law Firm.

[BikeliciousBabe]

There are now 40000 FLOCK AI cameras in use that read license plates and report to law enforcement. These are privatized which prevents the government from being sued. Any one can buy the information and any one can buy a camera for &2500. The public didn't win they were allowed to win because the government now has something better. After Ian a malfunctioning red light camera was issuing 20 citations a second in Orland Fl. I did a post about this on the Pentax forums. Things are still going to get worse for us. I got this from the Hampton Law Firm.

That doesn;t answer my question:  Where did a court rule license plate readers illegal?  The link you posted says nothing of the sort.

[zerodish]

A federal judge has ruled FLOCK cameras are public records. https://www.carscoops.com/2025/11/police-cameras-get-shut-down-when-judge-rules-images-are-public-data/

[BikeliciousBabe]

A federal judge has ruled FLOCK cameras are public records. https://www.carscoops.com/2025/11/police-cameras-get-shut-down-when-judge-rules-images-are-public-data/

Which seems to run counter to your claim that they are illegal.

Absent something like harassment (e.g., being chased by paparazzi), I don't believe you have a right of privacy when you are out in public.  That's why it's called 'public".  What's next?  Someone suing someone else because they looked at them?

There are reasons license plates exist.  To be able to identify vehicles and link them to their registered owners.  They are also handy for things like tracking down people who commit hit-and-runs and other traffic violations.  We have a very dangerous strtetch of U.S. 1 in my city.  Since installing red light an speed cameras, which capture license plates, accidents and deaths have dropped dramatically.  Too many people cannot be trusted to behave civilly and in accordance with laws when it comes to driving, and those failures kill and injure people every day.  I have a dollar to a donut that says you would be quite happy if you were injured by a motorist who was later identified using a license plate reader.

[David W Pratt]

Stopped by the police 600 times on a bike!  That must be a Guinness World Record!