Andy Sauer
A couple of years ago, I was on a plane heading home. A flight attendant pulled my bag from the overhead bin and asked to whom it belonged. I stood up and answered. She instructed me to put it under the seat to make room for another passenger’s larger bag. I protested. She insisted. As I was about to initiate a spirited defense, I noticed another passenger lifting his phone. It was then I heard my better angels whisper: “You are about to go viral for all the wrong reasons.”
I took the bag, jammed it under the seat and flew home with my knees practically in my chest. I bring this up because of the debate surging around Flock cameras – automated license plate reader cameras used by law enforcement agencies that capture vehicle data in real time. Have you seen them? There are none in Suffield, but there are several in neighboring towns. They’ve created quite a stir. More than 200 municipalities, counties and states have defunded or banned the technology. Connecticut slapped several restrictions on its use last spring.
While there are legitimate privacy concerns over a technology that can track up-to-the-second movements of our vehicles, the debate obscures the growing reality of living in a world under constant surveillance. There are cameras everywhere: airports, train stations, subway stations, highways, stores, gyms, front doors, driveways, stadiums, schools and even churches. If there’s an angle that isn’t covered by a camera, there’s always a freelance videographer ready to record the actions of someone behaving badly.
We can fight every privacy battle we choose, but history has demonstrated it is impossible to stuff technological genies back into the bottle. We need to operate as if the world is watching and listening to our better angels.
I was recently driving to an appointment, for which I was late. After exiting the highway, there was a driver who appeared, based on his hand gestures, to be unhappy with my driving. He tailed me all the way to a very busy and public area. I decided to choose peace. I got out of my car. He popped out and launched into a tirade. I apologized. He kept yelling. I kept apologizing. When I was able to speak, I asked where this infraction occurred? He said at the highway exit. It didn’t ring a bell. I apologized and approached in total contrition.
“Stay away from me!”
Dude, you followed and confronted me! I looked at his dashboard to see if I was being filmed for a social media stunt. No, this was a minor incident of road rage that would be lost to time. He admonished me one last time and left.
As I reconstructed my drive, I did recall coming in hot off the highway. I had a green left turn arrow and sped through the turn. There was a car coming out of the parking lot into the intersection that may have been intending to turn right on red without coming to a full stop, which is illegal.
I wasn’t in the wrong, he was! If only I had a camera to record the incident!