Florida has ordered every automated licence plate reader off its state highways. Agencies have 30 days to take them down. Texas froze state funding for the same cameras four days earlier. Two states run by Republican governors moved against Flock Safety in the space of a week.
Zack Whittaker reported both decisions for TechCrunch on Tuesday. The Florida order arrived as a one-page memo. Will Watts, an assistant secretary at the state Department of Transportation, signed it on Monday.
The memo revokes every existing permit for licence plate readers in the right of way of the State Highway System. It also stops the department issuing new ones. Agencies that miss the 30-day deadline will have the cameras taken down for them.
The reasons it gives are a “recent exponential increase in deployments” alongside “concerning reports of misuse, data privacy concerns, and surveillance schemes”.
A sheriff took it further than the memo asked
