Yes We Scan!

The Town of Barnstable is now the proud owner of a license plate scanning squad car - I saw it yesterday - a gift from the Dept of Homeland Security - the Big Brother agency that wants to know everything about you. The car can scan and record the identity of thousands of vehicles per day. There are reports that they want to acquire more and install 'red light cameras' as well.

Government spying technology is unregulated and its use is growing far too rapidly. Spy-cam databases permit police to map the whereabouts of everyday citizens. The Barnstable database can be uploaded to the State Police and others. There are no restrictions other than the whim of the BPD.

The abuses of red light camera are well documented and many states are moving to ban their use.

The American Civil Liberties Union has published a report on license-plate readers called simply “You Are Being Tracked" which harshly criticized the ominously growing area of governments spying on the people they govern.

It seems the DHS (ya'know, the agency that bought 1.5 billion bullets last year?) is generously giving out spyware gear and equipping local police paramilitary units. And to make sure it's all legal, they've set up secret courts that issue secret legal opinions on secret cases that are, well, secret. Orwell was an amatuer. DHS are the professionals.

If spying on the public is good, spying on the town is better! I want all the data on all town employees collected through these surveillance programs, their locations, times, dates, and movements, made available online. If we're paying for it, it's our data.

Perhaps that will put an end to it.