I couldn’t find an English language source, so here are some excerpts from the German one, translated with deepl [Stuff in brackets are additions by me]:
Wiesbanden bus driver Antonio Lopes recently got a yellow button next to his steering wheel: if he sees a parking offender blocking the bus lane or a bus stop, he can trigger the front camera. […] The images are sent to the traffic authorities. Drivers face a fine of around 70 euros. If they park in an environmental lane that is only intended for buses and bicycles, they will also receive a point in Flensburg. [Collect too many points and you loose your drivers licence]
These camera’s could eventually be equipped with AI that will scan for much much more. A jaywalker? Flagged. A public money transaction? Flagged. Going a bit over the speed limit? Flagged. Peeing in a bush? Flagged. Dropping a fry on the ground? Flagged. Drinking a beer a few centimeters off your public property? Flagged.
Do we really want to make the fight against small time crime the most important factor of freedom and privacy?
I mean, outside of the fact that things that “could be” in effect “aren’t currently”, Germany is not America. I’ll be making some broad sweeping cultural observations, but they’re mine alone as a German-American who is a citizen of both countries.
Germans don’t like using credit cards because of the implications of a log of transactions that could be tracked. They don’t like digitized forms. GDPR is a thing. Also, public consumption of alcohol is, by and large, legal in Germany so I’m assuming you meant “private property” when you said you could be fined for drinking a few centimeters off. Jaywalking is a crime, but generally there is so much pedestrian infrastructure that it’s not a big deal to find a crosswalk. You’d be more likely to get a “HALLOOOO?!” from a nosy German who is upset that you’re not following the rules than you will any sort of fine, though it isn’t outside of the question.
Not sure where your examples are coming from. These things are already illegal in America. We already have cameras all over the place in most urban areas. Going a bit over the speed limit? Speed cameras. Drinking beer in public? Public intoxication. Peeing in a bush? Indecent exposure and sex offender list if you’re near a school. Dropping a fry on the ground? Littering. Jaywalking because the nearest crosswalk is two miles down the road so it adds four miles of travel just to legally cross a road? Loud horns in your ears and police questioning at best, death at worst.
Americans already lost the fight against privacy and freedom thanks to Big Auto and Big Tech. Germany and the EU commission are why some American companies even care about privacy at all. Big Tech continues to get their anticompetitive practices challenged and fined in Europe, so I really doubt that what you’re saying would come to pass there without a significant cultural change.
So not only did America lose, but those industries have also convinced the majority of Americans that fifteen minute cities are “communism” and that Amazon and Facebook should know if your daughter is pregnant before you do. Big tech is already doing plenty of evil things without AI. The problem is the law and culture, not the technology.
My stance mostly comes by looking at how Europe handles the proposed Chat Control.
If people don’t notice the steps we make towards orwellianism, it might be too late when they notice.
These cameras read license plates, not faces so we should save those concerns for when they force pedestrians and cyclists to wear large, easily identifiable license plates.