Letters: The Bay Area is choosing privacy over plate readers

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Bay Area is choosing privacy over readers

Re: “Mountain View scraps license plate readers” (Page A1, Feb. 26).

Thursday’s article about the city of Mountain View’s decommissioning of the Flock traffic camera system was both enlightening and heartening. What sort of society do we want to live in? Are we okay with the surveillance of our every movement? We already give up much privacy with the way we use our phones, doorbell cameras, Google searches, etc.

I am happy with San Jose’s progress in addressing the homelessness problem, but metrics are easier to arrive at for some problems than others. I believe that the Flock cameras have been helpful when tracking crime suspects in real time. But without strong safeguards on their use, they could easily be used to track “enemies of the state,” whatever the state is or becomes. What is the metric for freedoms that slip away?

The choice is ours: All watched over by machines of loving grace, or get the Flock out of here?

Jim Von De Bur
San Jose

Climate panic is no path to stewardship

Re: “Going back on climate not an option” (Page A6, Feb. 24).

Climate change letters are getting more and more ridiculous as the global warming hoax loses traction among Al Gore’s faithful, currently Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff.

Smog and climate change are not the same phenomenon. Smog is localized air pollution. Particulate pollution blocks incoming sunlight, producing a short-term cooling effect. Treating every environmental issue as interchangeable confuses the discussion.

If the concern is lung health, then address air quality. If the concern is global temperature, then present measurable evidence and realistic timelines rather than apocalyptic rhetoric. Claims that we have only a handful of years left to save humanity undermine credibility and distract from practical environmental stewardship.

Public policy should be grounded in scientific distinctions with proportional responses, not a single narrative of impending doom.

Fred Gutmann
Cupertino

Governor hopefuls have questions to answer

Re: “Race for governor is tight early on” (Page A1, Feb. 26).

As the primary nears, we still need more debates and information from the candidates.

Eric Swalwell should explain his votes against anti-trust legislation like the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act. He should also state if he still supports legislation he co-sponsored, allowing states to punish businesses that boycott Israel.

Katie Porter should elaborate on actions she’d take to counter Trump administration actions against California, as well as how she’d handle tackling corruption in the state and utilities.

Steyer has to answer what exactly he plans to do to break up the electric utilities, as well as why we should trust a billionaire.

The Republicans need to explain how to pay for their massive tax cuts, and if they are willing to oppose Donald Trump.

As for the rest of the field, if they can’t poll higher in the next few weeks, they should drop out.

Christopher Dooner
Sunnyvale

One-party government leads to corruption

The history of one-party government has always been one of corruption, bribery, patronage and the incumbent party’s need to maintain power to cover up its corruption.

California has perfected a system of self-enrichment for politicians that favors their biggest contributors in return for political “donations” and a lack of accountability for state spending.

Ed Kahl
Woodside

ICE’s poor training leads to chaos in streets

Re: “Training for new ICE agents is ‘deficient’ and ‘broken,’ according to whistleblower” (Page A3, Feb. 24).

It should come as no surprise to learn that ICE agents have been receiving subpar academy training.

A whistleblower has reported that vital classes have been eliminated by about 40%, resulting in more people getting through training as quickly as possible. It is not a huge leap to believe the initial selection process is just as bare-bones. ICE says that its staffing has increased by 120% through hiring 12,000 new agents in just under a year. Local police agencies have trouble finding handfuls of qualified applicants through extensive background checks, psychological testing and interviews. After that, those trainees will go through an academy, then field training. This process can take well over a year.

Pushing poorly selected and poorly trained actors into what are becoming alarmingly volatile situations is a simple recipe for disaster. What we are seeing is the Stanford Prison Experiment playing out in real time.

Robert Bosworth
San Jose

Attacking Iran would be bad for them and us

Re: “Trump warns of ‘bad things’ if Iran doesn’t make a deal” (Page A4, Feb. 20).

There is absolutely no reason for us to attack Iran. They are not seeking an atomic bomb and have agreed to intensive inspections to prove it. Their people protested economic hardship brought on by U.S. sanctions, but they weren’t calling for their country to be bombed.

War with Iran will hurt both Iranians and Americans. Israel wants to overthrow Iran’s government, but why is that our responsibility? It’s actually our job to stop this senseless slaughter. Call the White House and your representatives. Tell them, “No war on Iran.”

David Spero
San Francisco