I always assumed that traffic cameras were open to the public by design. Why should only the police have access to them if the cameras are public-facing, funded by the public, for the public?
Seattle has a nice page where you can visualize camera locations on a map and access live feeds:
I think this is great. There is no expectation of privacy in public. If we're going to have cameras at all, I'd rather they be open to everyone, instead of being gatekept by a select few.
Some quantitative differences are so big that they are qualitative.
There is a qualitative difference between "You can walk around and people-watch with your own two eyes" and "You can collect data on thousands of people from all across any major city with thousands of machine eyes"
The law is simply out of date. There should be an expectation of privacy from surveillance.
It's one thing to have a camera giving an overview of a roadway. It's another to a camera that is reading license plates, that can be tied back to individuals. I'm not sure how much benefit the latter has to the public, but I do see how it could be harmful.
Seattle has a nice page where you can visualize camera locations on a map and access live feeds:
https://web.seattle.gov/Travelers/
I think this is great. There is no expectation of privacy in public. If we're going to have cameras at all, I'd rather they be open to everyone, instead of being gatekept by a select few.