Governor Gibbons Backs Big Brother Surveillance Cameras

(Nevada Families/Eagle Forum) – In a desperate and ill-conceived attempt to increase revenue, Governor Gibbons is promoting a proposal previously rejected by the Nevada Legislature to “build a network of license-plate scanning (surveillance) cameras on Nevada roadways.

The system would compare the license plate to insurance information in the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications system. Uninsured motorists would be sent a citation. [InsureNet a private] company would keep a portion of the fine, and the rest would go to the state.”

Apparently, concerns about misuse, abuse, privacy and individual constitutional liberties have not been considered by the Governor, just as he has pushed REAL ID ignoring similar concerns for liberty.

Former Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, a cop, is the high powered lobbyist who is promoting this scheme.

“Under this particular surveillance network, every license plate would be scanned, captured, and analyzed by a private company,” says Lee Rowland of the ACLU. “There is an astonishing lack of control on how private businesses use or disseminate all the data they collect about us.

“But what we do know is that in every case where massive amounts of data are stored by private companies – internet providers, website operators, phone companies, cell phone GPS systems, for example – the government has later attempted to obtain that information without oversight, accountability, or most importantly, a warrant.

“The government could, for example, seek the camera records of every car attending a particular political rally; could track the daily traffic patterns of individuals; could even request that InsureNet provide them with real-time location of a particular car – without any court oversight or warrant.

“The continuingly increasing presence of cameras in Nevada symbolizes the potential for a dark future where our every move, our every location, and our every communication, is recorded, compiled, and stored away, ready to be examined and used against us by the authorities whenever they want.”

On this issue, we agree completely with the ACLU.