“California drivers could get paid, thanks to a lawsuit accusing a Texas company of violating their privacy,” SFGate reported.
The 2021 lawsuit, which became class action in September, alleges that the digital recognition network violates a California law aimed at regulating the use of automatic license plate readers. DRN, a Fort Worth-based company, uses plate-scanning cameras to create location data on people's vehicles and sells that data to marketers, car repossessors and insurance companies.
Of particular note in this case is the size of the class. The court found that if you are a California resident and your license plate data has been collected by DRN at least 15 times since June 2017, you are a class participant. Plaintiffs' lawyers estimate that this tally includes about 23 million people who say they had DRN cameras installed in their cars on public roads. The incident's website allows Californians to see if their plates have been scanned.
Barring a settlement or delay, a trial to determine whether DRN must pay fines to these class participants is scheduled to begin May 17 in San Diego County Superior Court…according to the company's website. The company's cameras scan 220 million plates a month, and it has customers. Leverage plate data to “create a comprehensive vehicle story.”
An attorney with the firm representing class participants told SFGATE on Friday that his team is trying to prove that DRN's operations are a “mass surveillance program.”