Investigative reporter Leo Hohmann wrote about the surveillance state developing in America as people in authority become obsessed with new technology.
As he said, the installed license-plate reading cameras in places like Norfolk, Virginai provide a “curtain of technology,” allowing police to watch anyone drive anywhere without knowing they’re being watched.
The Institute for Justice noted:
“Unlike traditional traffic cameras, which capture an image only when they sense speeding or someone running a red light, Flock’s cameras capture images of every car driving by, which it retains for at least 30 days. Artificial intelligence then uses those images to create a ‘Vehicle Fingerprint’ that enables any Flock subscriber to both track where that vehicle has gone and identify what other vehicles it has been seen nearby.”
“Norfolk has created a dragnet that allows the government to monitor everyone’s day-to-day movements without a warrant or probable cause. This type of mass surveillance is a blatant violation of the Fourth Amendment.”
License plate readers are establishing a database.
According to Wired:
These images were generated by AI-powered cameras mounted on cars and trucks, initially designed to capture license plates, but which are now photographing political lawn signs outside private homes, individuals wearing T-shirts with text, and vehicles displaying pro-abortion bumper stickers—all while recording the precise locations of these observations. Newly obtained data reviewed by WIRED shows how a tool originally intended for traffic enforcement has evolved into a system capable of monitoring speech protected by the US Constitution.
Anyone with access to the LPR system can search for common phrases or names, such as those of politicians, and receive photographs where the search term is present, even if it is not displayed on license plates.
You can see things on homes on the road, and people’s political signs can be recorded on the cameras.
It’s not only license-plate readers; it’s speed cameras, red-light cameras, et cetera.
New York City is adding 600 red light cameras, and as Sentinel reported before, they do more than just take photos of the car violating the law. With AI, Americans need to be concerned about the government robbing us of our privacy in the name of safety.
Pete Buttigieg, son of a famous communist professor, wants speed cameras everywhere. He is redesigning our roads with control in mind.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Buttigieg said that Americans “need a national change of mentality,” He means you have to get used to government control.
“Today, we commit that our goal is this: zero. According to The Associated Press, ” our goal is zero deaths” from traffic accidents, ” Buttigieg said Thursday. “The decision to commit to that goal in a serious way at a national level changes the way cities and towns design roads, changes the way companies build cars, changes the way people drive.”
Zero is never realistic, and it is used to sway people.
The plan calls for “re-engineering roads.”
“The strategy recommends pilot programs to study and promote greater use of speed cameras, which the department says could provide more equitable enforcement than police traffic stops,” the AP reported.
Speed and red-light cameras have been found to be unconstitutional in some cases, yet they are proliferating — in 18 states.
Americans need to stop falling for this. We are becoming a surveillance state, and you probably won’t get rid of it once it is in. Bad actors will misuse it.
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