Last week, privacy activists were outraged when they learned the federal government was tracking the movements of millions of license plates in real time, and sharing the information with federal, state, and local police.

The plates are tracked as part of a Drug Enforcement Agency program that tries to keep tabs on drugs and contraband as it moves through the country.

Today, the story gets a little freakier.

In addition to tracking license plates, the federal government has been taking and sharing photos of drivers and passengers inside the cars, documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union show.

License plate readers (LPRs) are designed to provide "the requester" with images of license plate vehicle numbers, in addition to "photos of visible vehicle occupants," one of the newly released documents reads.