Covered at Reason 24/7: Police Want Traffic Cameras Used for Wider Surveillance

Traffic cameras. Don't you hate the damned
things? It's bad enough having some robo-snitch ratting on you for
going a few miles over the limit on an open road or shaving a
yellow without worrying that it actually picked up a guy passing
you but snapped your plate instead. Then again, it could be worse —
traffic cameras could just be general surveillance cameras,
tracking your face and your license plate and monitoring the public
in a wild display of Bloomberg-esque mission creep.

Come to think of it, that just may come to pass. Lawmakers in
both Washington and Oregon are considering changing the law to
allow traffic cameras to be used as ... well ... Big Brother's
all-seeing eyes. The Washington measure already passed the House
and awaits Senate approval. Oregon hasn't advanced that far, yet,
but give 'em time.

Police say they won't use the cameras to track people for minor
crimes. Of course not.

From
Northwest Watchdog:

PORTLAND – Police in Oregon and Washington want to expand the
reach of red light cameras to catch the really bad guys –
murderers, child abductors, armed robbers.

Both state legislatures are considering proposals that would
eliminate provisions in the state laws that keep police from using
the cameras for anything but red light running.

Police say they just want to use it to catch felons.

In Washington, police say being able to use the license plate
image captured by red light cameras might have helped them catch a
suspect in the drive-by shooting of a 21-year-old woman in Seattle.
As the law stands now, police can only use the image to enforce
traffic infractions.

But civil liberties advocates fear changing the red light camera
law is one step closer to broadening government surveillance.

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War on Cameras, Rock Star Edition: "Steven Tyler Act" Dies in Hawaii

Aerosmith frontman and rehab
enthusiast Steven Tyler has a house on Maui. Not so long ago, Tyler
pushed Hawaii lawmakers to craft a celebrity privacy bill that,
unsurprisingly gathered support from other publicity hounds who
always want to be in the news except when they don't.

Foxnews.com has the dish:

Tyler, who owns a multimillion dollar home on Maui,
earlier said he asked Sen. Kalani English, from Maui, to introduce
the bill after someone photographed him with his girlfriend at his
home in December.

Along with Tyler, rock legend Mick Fleetwood, who has restaurant
in McKelvey's district, personally appeared to urge lawmakers to
pass the bill. Their appearance generated buzz in the state
Capitol, as staffers snapped cellphone pictures of the stars and
compared them in the hallways after the hearing.

Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne and several other high-profile
celebrities also submitted written testimony in favor of the
bill.

Alas, for Tyler and his rag-tag band of citizen activists, the
bill is unlikely to pass, which means that such folks - despite
their god-like status on stages around the world - will be treated
kinda sorta like the rest of us. If only First Amendment rights
weren't so important that they apply even to paparazzi! And, of
course, to citizens
photographing the cops. Thank god that we live a nation of
laws, not moobs.

Read more here.

In 2010, Reason TV, with the help of C-SPAN's Brian Lamb, asked
the terrifying-yet-urgen question: "Why have cameras been in Katie
Couric's colon but not the Supreme Court?" The answer may surprise
you.

 

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