Full Transcript for Frank DeVito - Should License Plate Readers Be Banned?

dropped. 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:12.080 So you're about to say, uh, let's start with the benefits, and you're right. 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:14.800 I don't want to live up to Franklin's admonition. 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:21.039 Don't trade some security, you know, some privacy for your security, or you'll end up with neither one. 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:23.520 Well, how do how do we balance that? 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:24.159 Right. 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:30.960 So I think there's always a trade-off, and the scary thing is, you know, you can get as much security as you're willing to give up your freedom for, right? 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:33.199 We've read 1984, you read Orwell. 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:36.400 Um, you can have a very secure state where the government can see everything. 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:37.360 And there, you're right. 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:40.000 There's a lot of um good, right? 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:44.560 You can stop, you can find kidnappers, you can track down uh dangerous criminals and all that. 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:51.599 But I would say, for one, um I think that's a trade-off that goes way beyond what I would be comfortable with. 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:53.360 Because again, you you were right. 00:02:53.680 --> 00:03:00.560 Do you have an expectation of privacy when you go out the door that somebody can't write down your license plate or or see where your car is going? 00:03:00.719 --> 00:03:01.439 Of course not. 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:06.080 The problem is it starts to get scary with the level of technology with AI, right? 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:07.840 Because it's a multiplier. 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:10.240 So I don't actually think this violates the Fourth Amendment. 00:03:10.319 --> 00:03:17.199 I think this is non-private, reasonable search, but it's so hyper-inflated by what technology can do, right? 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:23.840 Because it's not just a cop sees your plate, but it's these cameras can see your plate everywhere you go, everywhere you come. 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:26.479 They can track patterns, they know basically where you are. 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:31.680 So not only do they know where you are, but they can say, okay, on Fridays, you generally stop at this store on your way home. 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:33.759 You get home around 5.26 p.m. 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:36.319 And that's that gets a little bit scary. 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:38.800 So I think this is a policy question. 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:43.680 Like I said, I don't really think it's a Fourth Amendment violation, although the courts are gonna have to sort this out. 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:49.840 But um uh I don't like the trade-off between uh privacy and the the amount of power that you're giving to the government. 00:03:50.479 --> 00:03:52.479 And Frank, I don't like the trade-off either. 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:58.240 Although I've told my audience that, you know, a million years ago, I used to go on ride-alongs with the cops all the time. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:10.560 Now it's not the c when I got married, I said, Well, I'm not gonna do that much anymore because it generally meant you were, you know, uh you you went on the ride-along starting at about midnight and stayed out till three or four in the morning. 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:12.639 And uh and they were always fascinating. 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:18.879 But one of the one of the times I was on a ride-along, this officer I'd never ridden with before, he's looking at this sheet of paper and I said, What are you looking at? 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:20.079 He says, It's the hot sheet. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:21.120 I said, What are you doing? 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:24.399 He says, I'm kind of putting all those plates in my you know my mind. 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:36.639 You know, I read over them a couple of times, and sure enough, that night we're driving down the road, and he f flips on the lights and siren and and pulls a 180 right in the middle of a street and and chases this car down. 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:38.879 And it was one of the stolen cars in the hot sheet. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:42.000 So that's the low-tech version of it. 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:53.040 That's okay to most people, but the high-tech version of it, which might track every stolen car or every hot car, uh that that that's the part that bothers people. 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:58.560 How how are we I mean, are we really making a distinction where we're already doing this kind of activity? 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:01.600 This is just a much more organized version of it? 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:09.199 Yeah, so that's true, but I think the technology amplifies it so much that it's not just more of the same, it becomes a different thing, right? 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:12.959 Like the cops can memorize plates and catch people off of that, that's great. 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:18.480 But this system is so advanced and so complete that you know you've we've already seen it abused. 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:24.720 You've seen some of the stories of your police officers who are you know tracking down their ex-wives and watching their every move. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:25.839 And that's that's creepy. 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:39.839 Uh, but I think putting that aside, some of my libertarian friends might not like this, but I think if it was just your rank and style cops, you know, your city cops who had access to this and were the sole users of it, I might be more comfortable. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:41.439 Like my parents were both cops. 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:43.120 I I tend to trust the police. 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:51.199 Um, but when the same stuff is also available to all the alphabet intelligence agencies at the federal level, and not to mention hacking, right? 00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:55.199 If if US technology has it, how much can places like China get a hold of it? 00:05:55.279 --> 00:06:00.639 Uh I I think there are just a lot of implications beyond giving cops the

tools they need to solve crimes. 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:02.959 I guess the other thing I wonder about is this. 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:07.040 Not that I'm saying if if we're already giving it up somewhere else, we might as well give it up here. 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:08.319 I'm not making that argument. 00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:16.639 But that phone I have in my pocket, I know that when I drive down the road, it's pinging off multiple towers and can probably triangulate where I am. 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:22.399 So if somebody really wanted to know where I was all the time, they wouldn't just be able to track my license plate. 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:28.000 They'd be able to track the electronic device that's almost always in my pocket everywhere I go. 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:40.399 And so I wonder if people are getting all wound up about the cameras and forgetting that phone in your pocket, if somebody has the metadata, they know exactly where you went, what transactions you made, and everything else. 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:42.959 Yeah, I think that's a very strong point, right? 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:47.439 The obvious uh distinction is at least in theory, the phone is a choice, right? 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:50.079 We're all addicted to our phone, so how much of a choice is it? 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:53.040 But you can leave it home, you can choose not to get a smartphone. 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:57.839 But I that being said, I think you're right that um people kind of overlook this. 00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:07.920 You know, I have friends who get super encrypted apps for their texting and all of this stuff, and I'm just thinking, listen, if you have one of these phones on a major carrier, every keystroke is safe somewhere. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:09.040 So I think you're right. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:14.240 I think we've forgotten how much of our freedom and our privacy we already give up by having these things in our pockets. 00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:16.959 Hey, Frank, before we go, tell my audience about J.D. 00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:19.279 Vance and the future of the Republican Party. 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:20.560 Yeah, thank you, Lars. 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:24.560 So I wrote this book earlier this year, and now it's getting more relevant than ever. 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:26.480 Um the book is basically about two things. 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:27.600 Who is JD Vance? 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:35.759 I've analyzed pretty much everything he ever wrote, every major speech he gave, every piece of legislation he proposed, and uh tried to figure out who is this guy. 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:41.439 And then, second of all, I wanted to relate that to what are the tensions in the Republican Party right now, right? 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:42.480 What are the big divides? 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:48.560 What are the real conversations, and how does Vance and his thought and his uh presence on the political scene fit into that? 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:52.800 I wish you could I could give you examples in one minute, but there's really nothing like it on the market. 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:56.720 This book is uh, I think really the best thing out there to understand who is J.D. 00:07:56.800 --> 00:08:00.560 Vance and also what is the fight for the post-Trump Republican Party going to look like? 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:01.680 What are the fault lines? 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:02.480 It's all in there. 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:03.759 Boy, you know what? 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:10.079 I I love what we're actually I love what we're headed up to because I think we're gonna have a wealth of candidates for president. 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:20.399 And I love looking over at the Democrat Party thinking they've got a mostly empty bench, and the ones that are on the bench are some pretty sad sacks when it comes to, you know, Gavin Newsome and the like. 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:21.600 That's Frank DeVito. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:27.199 Frank is an attorney, he's also the author of JD Vance and the Future of the Republican Party. 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:29.279 You've got the Laris Larson show.