Target: Ted Cruz, Chair of U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Goal: Investigate mass usage of surveillance devices on American drivers.
A man is pulled over because he has a trailer hitched to his vehicle. Another driver is stopped because he made a short trip to Mexico. Both are aggressively questioned by authorities, who seem to know an inordinate amount of details about the men’s travel patterns. One of the men is arrested for money laundering, even though the cash in his car came verified from an employer. Such incidents have become commonplace not just in border towns but across the entire United States. On the flimsiest of pretexts – from slight speeding to even improperly placed air fresheners – individuals are stopped by authorities and searched, grilled, and often detained. Despite these individuals being innocent of any wrongdoing 90 percent of the time, the agency responsible for these mass invasions of privacy – Customs and Border Protection – still considers their ethically questionable surveillance program a success story.
Said surveillance program involves a vast network of license plate readers designed to track the movements of tens of millions of drivers who are using America’s roadways. Chances are good that many readers of this petition have unknowingly been subjects of this surveillance. A vast array of harmless behaviors (using back roads, taking brief trips, renting a car) can draw the attention of federal surveyors, who often deploy local police forces to carry out their mission of harassing drivers on everything from their personal lives to their social media accounts. Police forces have even reportedly been paid – on taxpayers’ dime – to run license plate readers and other surveillance tools hidden on roads to spy on said taxpayers. With the onslaught of artificial intelligence, the reach and scope of these spyware systems will only expand.
Sign the petition below to demand lawmakers rein in these Big Brother-lite operations that infringe on every driver’s right to privacy.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Senator Cruz,
The surveillance programs enacted on Americans via the Patriot Act stirred controversy and remain a flashpoint in history to this day. Since the early days of this nation, when Benjamin Franklin asserted “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety,” security has time and again been used as an excuse to deprive Americans of their fundamental rights. The latest, rapidly expanding framework for this approach comes in the form of license plate readers and other surveillance tools Customs and Border Protection have deployed across America to spy on drivers while espousing the “need” for these tools.
The result has been multiple violations of the Fourth Amendment clause against unreasonable search and seizure, several instances of unwarranted arrest and detention, and millions of cases taking place daily of Americans unwittingly being deprived of their privacy and their right to move and travel as they please. Do not let this mass surveillance system become another runaway Patriot Act. Demand transparency and build guardrails against an unchecked danger that will soon be super-charged by equally unregulated AI.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Tommy Picone
