The Unlikely Alliance to Protect Mainers' Privacy | Episode 10 with Michael Kebede and Alicia Rea

Government surveillance... creepy, intrusive, and unconstitutional! Automated license plate readers are spreading quietly across Maine towns, scanning and logging every car that drives past, innocent travelers included. Laurel sits down with two leaders from the ACLU of Maine, Policy Director Michael Kebede and Policy Fellow Alicia Rea, to unpack how Flock cameras work, what they actually capture, and why Mainers across the political spectrum are pushing back. In this episode: How Flock's automated license plate readers scan every passing car and build a "mosaic" of where you have been, from doctor's appointments to churches to protests Why Michael Kebede argues that ubiquitous, government-controlled cameras erode the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement What Flock's trademarked "vehicle fingerprint" technology captures: make, model, color, bumper stickers, and aftermarket parts How Maine's 21-day data retention rule works, and why the camera company is not bound by it The towns that fought back: Sanford and Wells Why a bipartisan two-thirds majority in both chambers defeated LD 1457, the turnpike speed-camera bill How Maine's 2019 facial recognition ban, which Kebede drafted, blocks Flock's "Condor" product The wrongful-arrest cases that lead the ACLU to call facial recognition "dangerous when it works" Dig deeper: ACLU of Maine: aclumaine.org Kathleen Tomaselli's reporting on surveillance cameras in Houlton: https://www.bangordailynews.com/2026/... Subscribe to Speak Up with Laurel Libby: YouTube:    / @laurel_libby   Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/75Y2G40... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Follow Laurel: X: https://x.com/laurel_libby Facebook:   / laurellibbymehouse   Learn more about Lead Maine's work at www.LeadMaine.com