Proud to be Progressive

Vendors for traffic-light enforcement cameras are quietly pushing for a national vehicle tracking system based on existing red-light cameras. This means your movements could be tracked in detail, despite the fact that you might not be violating any law, or even under suspected of violating the law. This surveillance could happen without any kind of warrant or judicial oversight, and it could extend to everybody who uses public roads. The potential for abuse is obvious.

Why object to surveillance, some might ask, if you have nothing to hide? That argument is used to justify all sorts of intrusive searches, and it’s bogus. When you send in your tax return, you put it in a sealed envelope, right? Why? Do you have something to hide? Of course not. Your tax return (and most of your other mail) goes in an envelope because it’s just private. You don’t have to answer questions from the government about what you’re hiding in that envelope, or behind your bedroom windowshade, or in your appointment book—not unless the government gets a warrant based on probable cause. The same applies to your movements and associations with other people.

Well vehicle tracking is not going to happen in Iowa, not if I have anything to say about it. If I’m elected I will push for a state law outlawing any use of traffic-light cameras for surveillance purposes. And if it turns out that traffic-light cameras cause more accidents, as at least four scientific studies have shown, then we should get rid of the cameras altogether.

Update:  it’s way more than four studies.  Thanks, Bill!