Also, another entry in why Homeowner's Associations Are Evil. They are creating the Surveillance State. Police, Private HOAs Team Up to Buy License Plate Readers
“We thought we were just being a partner with the city,” Bill Hayes, the chief operating officer of Legend Communities, which oversees the Rough Hollow Homeowners Association, said at the meeting. “We didn’t go out there thinking we were being Big Brother.”
Lakeway is just one example of a community that has faced Flock’s surveillance without many homeowners’ knowledge or approval. Neighbors in Atlanta, Georgia, remained in the dark for a year after cameras were put up. In Lake County, Florida, nearly 100 cameras went up “overnight like mushrooms,” according to one county commissioner — without a single permit.
Now I suppose it is one thing if an HOA wants to spy on the movements of its residents. It probably shouldn't do that without at least discussing it with them, but that isn't my issue. My issue is that they are apparently also - at least in some cases - tracking cars on public roads. "But it is just like Ring Doorbell Cameras." Probably. But I don't like those either.
The statement "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." Except there is more to hide every day. The powers that be think you drink too much and are going to put taxes on alcohol to make it unaffordable, as they did with tobacco. Then it will be red meat. Or any meat. (Eat the bugs dammit!) Then it will be that you are driving too much. You are living your life in a way we don't approve of.
Welcome to the Panoptican. (Hat tip to Slashdot.)
I just can't imagine putting yourself in that position.
ReplyDeleteIn public spaces, there may not be an expectation of privacy, but that doesn’t mean the state has a right to track the public. The HOA most certainly does not have that right. The local residents need to band together as a group and put firm limits on what the HOA is allowed to do, and ensure any information released to the authorities requires a valid warrant and notification to the affected homeowners.
ReplyDeleteBack at the dawn of 5G cellular service, one of the issues I saw discussed online was that it provides enough bandwidth to allow real-time facial recognition and tracking. One of the issues raised with Huawei was that, as a CCP company, they would have that tracking surreptitiously but into the service.