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License plate readers make Cedar Rapids like a totalitarian state
Daniel McGrail
Nov. 9, 2025 6:00 am
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The adoption by the Cedar Rapids Police Department of automatic license plate readers is really no different from the facial recognition cameras that are ubiquitous in totalitarian states like China. Americans go everywhere in their cars. Monitoring where a car is reveals where that person is and what they are doing. To assume that this widespread surveillance will be used only to track crimes is incredibly naive. These cameras, and their use for closely monitoring the daily lives of all citizens, will expand and expand until they are everywhere. The city council should ban them.
Daniel McGrail
Cedar Rapids
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