License plate reading systems are expanding rapidly in Missouri, as I have been depressed to learn over the past week. They are being used in Springfield, Columbia, throughout St. Louis County, and are expanding in St. Charles. They’re probably being used in lots of other places, too. Law enforcement supports this technology as a tool to solve crimes and catch wanted criminals. I don’t dispute that it helps do both things very well.
But I think this raises a broader concern. Rockwell (not Lew) was right. The surveillance state has arrived quietly in Missouri, which I guess is appropriate when you think about it. After all, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. The surveillance state appears to be here in various forms, including license plate readers on public roads and intricate video systems on private property.
Numerous facts and beliefs can all be true at once:
- I am highly troubled by a government surveillance system tracking our movements.
- I am well aware that there is no inherent right to privacy on public roadways or in other public places.
- There is clearly no right to privacy on other people’s property, except for certain spaces, e.g. a bathroom.
- Private surveillance systems vary from simple ones that most people, including me, are fine with, to much more complex systems that I find highly troubling (even if they are legal).
- The creation of a comprehensive surveillance system by government has harmful effects on the community even if you trust that the government is only using the system for certain purposes that strike many as legitimate, such as apprehending suspected criminals.
- Finally, if you do trust the government to only use surveillance systems in appropriate ways, I have a camera system on Pluto to sell you for an unbeatable price. Act now!
Citizens have a right to be free of unwarranted government intrusion and, yes, I count continual surveillance by technology as an intrusion. I would hope that local officials would think twice (or more) about installing these systems in their communities. I also think that the state legislature should consider limits on their usage. I may not have a right to privacy when out in public, but the government also should have no right to track my movements as I go about my life. I am surprised many local officials don’t seem to agree with that.
