In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the privacy of American citizens has been seriously compromised. To “keep Americans safe,” the bureaucratic monolith of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created, which includes the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The Patriot Act was enacted, which “made it easier for the government to spy on ordinary Americans by expanding the authority to monitor phone and email communications, collect bank and credit reporting records, and track the activity of innocent Americans on the Internet.”

The legislation allows government agents to issue National Security Letters (NSLs) “without a judge's approval, to obtain personal information, including phone records, computer records, credit history, and banking history.”

Between 2003 and 2006, 192,499 NSLs were issued, leading to only “one terror-related conviction,” which would have occurred regardless of legislation. Under the Patriot Act, the government never destroys the private information it collects, and it is widely accessible. For example, 34,000 law enforcement and intelligence agents can retrieve collected phone records by NSLs.

The Patriot Act set the stage for the latest tool in the crime-fighting arsenal: surveillance cameras, which police departments staunchly defend as essential technology. The leading company for these systems is Flock Safety, which manufactures “surveillance camera systems that record and analyze everything that passes them.”

Flock cameras are used as “automated license plate readers to track or reconstruct movements of vehicles in criminal investigations.” Currently, the company claims it has 120,000 cameras throughout the United States that “capture billions of data points each month.”

The cameras are connected in a national network of........

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