Flock cameras — the automated license plate readers that photograph passing vehicles to capture their license plates, make, model, color, and other details, turning them into searchable records — are popping up all over the country. Proponents argue that they help solve crime and keep Americans safe, but is that actually true?
According to Glenn Jacobs, mayor of Knox County, Tennessee, the answer is no. He argues that Flock cameras actually endanger Americans by putting them under constant surveillance, giving the government a complete record of every citizen’s movements.
On this episode of “Kibbe on Liberty,” Matt Kibbe sits down with Jacobs to discuss why he believes Flock cameras are a dire threat to privacy and the Fourth Amendment.
“The more I’ve researched [Flock cameras], the more I dislike them and consider them a very dire threat to our privacy and to the protections guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment,” says Jacobs.
Kibbe, calling Flock cameras “Orwellian,” is concerned that such surveillance will turn America into China 2.0.
“How is this any different than kind of a Chinese surveillance system?” he asks.
Jacobs indicates that it’s not all that different. Flock cameras, he explains, are marketed as license plate readers, but “they do a lot more than that.”
“With the Flock system, it is literally harvesting data. Every car that goes by, it pulls their license plate, but it also uses AI to develop a vehicle footprint,” he says.
“So it’s your license plate, but also make, model, color, distinguishing features, roof racks, bumper stickers, all these different things that then go into a database and remain there for 30 days or more, depending on the policy of that particular agency. Then it can be searched through without a warrant for whatever,” he continues.
The lack of established parameters around Flock cameras also gives Jacobs serious pause.
“In Tennessee there’s no state rules about how this can be used, and there’s no federal guidelines either, so what’s happened is this technology has gone out there and it’s — until now, it’s kind of flown under the radar,” he says.
Then there’s public opinion to consider. As Americans find out more and more about Flock cameras, the opposition has only grown.
“These things are not popular at all, and the more people learn about them, the more they literally hate them,” says Jacobs.
For example, it’s coming out that Flock cameras can gather enough data to form “a pattern of your movements.”
Jacobs illustrates the danger of such power with a hypothetical.
“They could say, you know, Glenn goes to the gun range at least once a week, twice on Sundays. If this happened during COVID, you know, he goes to anti-COVID meetings and rallies. All of a sudden they have a profile on me,” he says.
“No, we do not have an expectation of privacy when we’re in public places and on public roads, but the Supreme Court has ruled that without a warrant, your movements can’t be tracked like that. They ruled that in Carpenter v. United States in 2018,” he continues, predicting that it’s a matter of time before the Supreme Court will “squash” Flock cameras.
“But in the meantime, it’s just important that people are aware that these are not your grandma’s license plate readers. These are something much much different,” he warns.
To hear more, watch the episode above.
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