Kyle Bove recently praised the efficiency of the new BRPD license scanners. This method of identifying stolen vehicles is a blatant invasion of privacy — more so than traffic light cameras. The scanner takes pictures of “stationary or moving vehicles,” and indicates the driver whose picture is being taken does not have to break the law for their information to be scanned and stored by the government.Lockheed Martin, a major manufacturer of traffic light cameras, is allowed to retain data from their leased cameras. This company can use this data however they wish. While the BRPD may use this scanner for the purpose of returning stolen vehicles to their rightful owners, when are government surveillance activities actually restricted to a single purpose? This issue of “mission creep” is addressed by the ACLU, who reported the use of cameras on a state border to photograph law-abiding civilians and subject them to inquiries concerning their intentions for crossing state lines.According to the Supreme Court, “The right to be let alone (is) the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men. To protect that right, every unjustifiable intrusion by the government upon the privacy of the individual, whatever the means employed, must be deemed a violation of the Fourth Amendment.”These license scanners and cameras, connotative of Orwellian telescreens and Big Brother propaganda, are unconstitutional and morally wrong.Kathryn Touchestoneinternational studies senior——Contact The Daily Reveille’s opinion staff at [email protected]