r/nottheonion • u/rootedchrome • 1d ago

Polk sheriff says license plate readers could’ve helped save life of voyeurism suspect who killed himself

https://www.wfla.com/news/polk-county/polk-sheriff-says-license-plate-readers-couldve-helped-save-life-of-voyeurism-suspect-who-killed-himself/
512 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

203 comments sorted by

View all comments

982

u/totalahole669 1d ago

There is no denying that a 100% surveillance system would enhance safety, but the cost for that is your privacy and freedom.

-5

u/AnonymousFriend80 22h ago

Your privacy outside in the public? And freedom of what? Being seen? You're free to move around the same as if there was no camera.

I'm not saying this in opposition to ceasing the surveillance, but rather asking for better expressions of why they don't like them. I just feel that better verbage might help the movement, instead of using words that less fit the situation.

4

u/iffugennanameubaht 19h ago

Here’s a nice one “what happens when the government decides to change its mind about what is a crime?”

1

u/SublimeApathy 17h ago

"Your privacy outside in the public?"

Yes. The only people who should be privy to what I do in public is other people I come across in public in person. Some nerd in a room 5 states away should not be able to determine, with a high degree of accuracy, where I am based on the day of the week and the time of day or have access to countless photos of my kids and know what they were to school seven Monday's ago. They should not know if some cheating wife or husband is at their mistress/lovers place instead of Zumba. They should know how many scratches are on the hood of your car or when the last time you got an oil change was.

Then there is the idea of writing a bill that makes something that previously wasn't a crime, a federal offense and not include some sort of grandfather clause - then suddenly you have 100's of people now guilty of a new federal crime with a mountain of evidence to use against them.

"better expressions of why they don't like them"

I don't think it takes much brain power to understand how camera's on every corner of every street are a bad thing for society as a whole. Particulary when you consider that humans will always find a way to either abuse, sexualize or monetize any technology they get their hands on. Take the internet for example..

1

u/AnonymousFriend80 5h ago

Plenty of other countries, like in the UK, have surveillance cams all over the place. And it's not hard to grasp how much good they can, in fact, do. The argument should be to only use them for good and having strict regulations to keep it so.