Privacy

 The actions of police departments discussed in Catherine Crump's Ted Talk shocked me to my core. There is absolutely no reason local police departments should be storing pictures of myself and my car along with the location, time, and date the picture was captured. This is not using automated license plate readers for police work, this is treating average civilians like criminals. While I support the use of the technology for its intended use: to catch criminals and stolen vehicles, I do not agree with or condone the actions Crump discussed. This is an issue that affects every single American and we must do something about it now before we end up in a complete surveillance state like China has. The Government needs to step in and place heavy regulations on when this technology and similar technology can be used by departments, what they can do with the information they get, what information can be stored, and for how long said information can be stored. This concerns me more than usual because we've just found out that China has been selling citizens' data from its mass surveillance system. In the past, we've been able to protect ourselves from invasive technology by using VPNs, having private accounts, not allowing apps to access our data, etc. However, this specific technology can only be avoided by those who don't have cars, and even then, you could still be captured in someone else's car or nearby it. 

So where do we, as Americans, draw the line? That's the tricky part. Everyone will have a different opinion on how much surveillance is too much surveillance but for me, when the Government is storing pictures of you every time you drive somewhere despite being a law-abiding citizen, that's too much surveillance. In my opinion, citizens should be surveilled only when they have raised suspicion in the past.  Reach out to your Congressmen and make sure your feelings towards this type of technology are known before it's too late.