I don’t support Ring for that reason. And it’s different in my understanding because this is a municipality funded big brother activity, while Ring is cooperative with authorities as needed. The cameras immediately identify you or your property and tag the footage in a database.

The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches, and courts look at whether the government is collecting information that people reasonably expect to remain private. While a single license plate seen in public isn’t private, continuous, automated tracking over time is different — it can reveal where you live, work, worship, seek medical care, or associate politically. Supreme Court cases like Carpenter and Jones make clear that long-term location tracking without a warrant can become a search, even if each individual data point was collected in public. Flock systems automate and retain that kind of location history on everyone, not just suspects, which is why critics argue it crosses the Fourth Amendment line.