Aren’t the Blue Flashing Light Cameras on Poles a Civil Liberties Violation?

Like most people who have not yet had their first drink of the day, you’re filled with genuine anxiety about the advance of the surveillance society.

"These awful blue flashing light cameras on poles," as seen on North Hayden Island. (Aaron Mesh)
By Marty Smith

I’ve become horrified by the proliferation of these awful blue flashing light cameras on poles you wrote about a few years back [Dr. Know, WW, Aug. 20, 2022]. Do you have an update of any kind? Isn’t this a civil liberties violation? —Marta W.

I can’t tell whether you’re a real concerned citizen, Marta, or a fiendishly clever flack trying to gin up a little free media for the makers of the D3 (“Deter! Detect! Defend!”) robot camera you’re pretending to be horrified by. (If the latter, hats off; you’ll go far in the public relations industry.) I’m guessing you’re on the level, though, and that like most people who have not yet had their first drink of the day, you’re filled with genuine anxiety about the advance of the surveillance society.

Well, sucks to be you! Surveillance juggernaut LiveView Technologies, home of the D3, just received an infusion of venture capital that will enable them to grow even faster than their current 30%-a-year clip. (In a statement, the VC firm spoke of LVT’s “force-of-nature founders,” which is how venture capitalists allude to the boner they get for people who don’t let human decency get in the way of making obscene amounts of money.)

Do such cameras constitute a civil liberties violation? Not so far. The law has generally held that you don’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy when you’re in a public place, particularly outdoors where anyone passing by can see you anyway.

The question does become a bit thornier, however, when the definition of “passersby” expands to include aerial vehicles equipped with ultra-high-resolution cameras. For example, in 2020 the city of Baltimore partnered with a security firm to put eyes in the sky 24/7. Stolen car? Just wind the tape back and see where it went! It was all outdoors, and thus perfectly legal.

Unfortunately, the city had neglected to get public buy-in before rolling out this real-life Big Brother, and the project was scrapped after six months of public outcry. That said, the technology worked perfectly in 2020, and has doubtless gotten better since. Cynics might say we’re one missing white girl away from letting The Man tape our every move. Fortunately, Oregon’s new drone law requires authorities to get a warrant to surveil us from unmanned planes. Then again, Baltimore’s planes were manned, and thus would be as legal in Oregon as church on Sunday. Good luck!

Questions? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com.

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