Aug. 27, 2026 Editor, The News-Gazette: Lately, I have noticed ALPR (automated license plate reader) surveillance cameras appearing throughout Rockbridge County. Most are on I-81, but they are starting to show up on county roads (keep an eye out on U.S. 60 east and Quarry Road when coming into Lexington for a black camera on a pole with a solar panel).
These surveillance cameras are being used to track our movements, spy on our communities, and compile detailed databases of the daily movements of every person unlucky enough to drive past.
It’s far too easy for this data to be abused. No court-issued warrant is needed to search or track someone, and there have already been many cases across the country of misuse, with government employees searching and tracking their ex-girlfriends or using knowledge of someone’s whereabouts to embarrass them.
The technology (which heavily relies upon artificial intelligence) is also far from perfect. People have been surrounded in their cars at gunpoint when the cameras misidentify their car for one that is suspected in a crime.
The data collected by these cameras is not only available to county employees, but depending on the contract with the private corporation that maintains them, can be seen by local and state governments across the country. And with little to no safeguards in state or federal law, who knows who these private corporations are selling our daily whereabouts to.
Since there are no state or federal protections for residents of Rockbridge County, the county government needs to immediately cease all contracts with these corporations until there is better understanding and oversight of this new technology to protect our privacy and freedoms. I for one do not want to live in a surveillance state, especially one run by a private company. DOUG JONES Natural Bridge Station
