1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

Florida just showed California how to lead on privacy. After a "recent exponential increase" in deployments and documented abuse, Florida's Department of Transportation revoked all license plate reader approvals on state rights-of-way. California should do the same — ban Flock Safety cameras from state highways now. The abuse isn't theoretical. A Kentucky officer used the Flock system more than 2,000 times to stalk his ex-girlfriend. More than 100 local governments nationwide have already canceled or not renewed their LPR contracts. Flock's own response — trimming data retention from one month to one week — doesn't come close to addressing the core problem: a private company building a nationwide surveillance network that tracks where every driver goes and shares that data across agencies. Texas has cut state funding for Flock cameras. Florida has cleared its rights-of-way. California shouldn't be the last state standing while its residents are tracked without consent. Pull Flock cameras from state property and put real privacy protections into law before this network grows any larger.