New Technologies are Scary to People and Governments

Drones, facial recognition, self-driving cars, the service economy, electronic voting, you name it, we appear to be afraid of it. Technology for those who grew up with a rotary dial telephone in their home and on their desk at work sounds like "Big Brother" [Big Brother, personification of the power of the state in 1984 (1949) by George Orwell] a: the leader of an authoritarian state or movement b: an all-powerful government or organization monitoring and directing people's actions] which was established as a term by the book and then by the movie 1984.

There are plenty more technologies that are coming soon to a camera, sensor, kiosk near you. How we react to these new technologies will determine if we enter a new era of services and capabilities or we remain mired where we are, hankering for a simpler time. Already there has been a push-back on license plate readers being installed on police vehicles that can catch those who have warrants or are just parking ticket scoffers. Why not use this technology? Because you personally like to run red lights? 

Connecticut's Facial Recognition Bill: A Model for States? This article lays out a good approach.

I expect most readers here don't want to be the ones piloting a new technology that can get you in trouble. Why not make a policy decision out of it? Pitch the idea! Of course, the problem there is that your boss is likely not wanting to put his or her neck on the line either. I guess you will have to wait for some other pioneers to cross the Mississippi River of technology and be the first to reap the rewards.