Mass surveillance authorized on NC highways, all other state roads |…

North Carolina's new state budget authorizes law enforcement to deploy AI-powered automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) on all state-maintained roads, creating a statewide surveillance system that tracks vehicle movement and cross-references plates against law enforcement databases. The programme has caught suspects but also generated false arrests, raising privacy concerns. If you sell data services, identity verification, or risk-scoring software to law enforcement, North Carolina just created a permanent, statewide customer with standardised intake feeds. Your data product now powers real arrests—and real lawsuits when it fails.