EL DORADO HILLS, Calif. -

Intellaegis president John Lewis cautioned the repossession industry about a new law that went into effect at the beginning of the year in California regarding the use of data collected by using license plate recognition technology.

Lewis explained the new law in the Golden State — one that could be coming elsewhere — requires any agency that accesses LPR data to keep detailed logs and usage for each piece of data.

And failure to abide by this requirement is steep. Lewis pegged it at a minimum fine of $2,500 plus punitive and other damages — per occurrence.

“The eventual ramifications of this level of scrutiny creates significant exposure for those companies with their heads in the sand, or for those unwilling to look for opportunities to embrace these laws and seek out solutions to protect themselves from the attorneys and regulators coming their way,” Lewis said in a recent company blog post.

Lewis went on to explain that the new California law also requires companies that use LPR data to have a written policy of how the information and system will be monitored to ensure security. Furthermore, he pointed out agencies need a compliance policy to ensure all applicable privacy laws are being followed with accompanying documentation for periodic system audits.

“If your head isn’t spinning already, they also want a policy to show how and why you share, transfer or sell this data, and what are the restrictions around this,” Lewis said.

“Additionally, they want a policy describing the process the end user will use to validate and authenticate the data you gathered is the correct data, and if not, how will the errors be corrected,” he continued.

“Consider yourself warned as ‘ignorance is not a defense,’” Lewis went on to say.

One more word of caution. Lewis also mentioned the American Civil Liberties Union is galvanizing an effort in 16 states and the District of Columbia to push through legislation regulating LPR use similar to what’s now on the books in California. The states in the effort include:

— Alabama
— Alaska
— Connecticut
— Hawaii
— Illinois
— Massachusetts
— Michigan
— Minnesota
— Missouri
— Nebraska
— New Hampshire
— New Mexico
— New York
— North Carolina
— Virginia
— West Virginia

“A bipartisan consensus on privacy rights is emerging, and now the states are taking collective action where Congress has been largely asleep at the switch,” ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said.

“This movement is about seizing control over our lives,” Romero said. “Everyone should be empowered to decide who has access to their personal information.”