Automated license plate readers have quietly built a mass surveillance network, and Florida is right to shut them down. Tracking every Floridian's movements just in case that data becomes useful later isn't law enforcement — it's a digital dragnet that treats ordinary drivers like suspects. Banning these cameras from state highways is the kind of principled stand against government overreach that conservatives have always claimed to champion.
Pulling these cameras off state highways doesn't undo the surveillance abuses already committed — including Florida's own government using Flock data to monitor environmental advocates. The DeSantis administration can't claim the mantle of privacy protection while an active inspector general investigation targets its own agencies for unconstitutional access to Floridians' personal information. This ban looks a lot more like political theater than genuine accountability.
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