Gov. Cox:
Utahns deserve public safety. We also deserve privacy.
That distinction is becoming harder to defend as automated license-plate-reader networks such as Flock turn ordinary vehicles into searchable records of where people have been and when.
Flock recently announced that beginning Jan. 1 it will shorten its standard data-retention period from 30 days to seven and require law-enforcement users to link searches to case numbers and implement auditing tools. Those changes are welcome. They are also an admission that safeguards are necessary.
The issue isn’t whether these cameras can help solve crimes. Of course they can. The issue is whether the government should be permitted to collect and search information about innocent people simply because they drove down a public road.
“Nothing to hide” is not a sufficient answer. Privacy is not something citizens should have to earn by proving their innocence. And recent reports of law-enforcement personnel using these systems for unauthorized searches demonstrate that technological capability without strong oversight creates opportunities for abuse.
Gov. Cox, Utah should lead rather than wait for a scandal.
Establish strict retention limits. Require meaningful judicial oversight for searches intended to reconstruct a person’s movements. Require transparent reporting, independent audits and serious consequences for misuse. Restrict sharing of Utah data with outside agencies unless there is a legitimate legal basis.
Public safety and privacy are not opposing values. A government confident in its authority should also be confident enough to accept reasonable limits on that authority.
Utahns should not have to choose between feeling safe and knowing where government surveillance ends.
Clifton Wright, Salt Lake City