Why police won't let you see how surveillance tech is tracking you
The short version: AJC reporters expose a Georgia law so broad it can block you from seeing surveillance data collected about your own car and movements.
Our Take
Credit to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Fraser Jones and data editor Charles Minshew for digging into something most of us never think to question: what happens when you actually try to get your hands on the surveillance data cops have about you. Turns out in Georgia, a law written to stop misuse of police tech has been stretched so wide it can shield departments from handing over records even when it's your own license plate or your own movements being logged.
This is the quiet trick of modern ALPR and camera networks — it's not just that they watch you, it's that the legal plumbing around them is built to keep you from watching back. 'Transparency' and 'accountability' mean nothing if the public records request dies on arrival because a statute lets an agency say no by default. Georgia isn't unique here; plenty of states have carve-outs, exemptions, and vague 'law enforcement sensitive' language that turns a camera on every corner into a one-way mirror.
If you want to know how many of these eyes are already pointed at your own neighborhood, check our camera map, and if you think the public should have a real right to see what's being collected about them, our take-action page has steps you can use right now.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Atlanta Journal-Constitution, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.