Erik Morris

Freedom is a fundamental right of all Americans and should be the goal for all people. Public safety is also a key item for governments to provide for their constituents. To ban everything outright may be the most free, but may also negatively impact safety. However being more safe at the expense of our freedom would mean an end of the American experiment. I have worked in China and have seen what unfettered surveillance does. It does make people feel more safe from regular day-to-day crimes, but it doesn't prevent them and it does create fear and concern of governmental/state overreach in all facets of life. That cannot happen in America. Like with all things, the best answer lies somewhere in the middle, where law enforcement has tools available when they are truly needed and where law-abiding citizen have their privacy, freedom and no fear of their government disappearing them. Today we are much closer to non-democratic norms of North Korea, Russia and China then we are American freedom. Holding and rolling back the technology that threatens our freedom is imperative until we can prove that systems can be put in place to prevent bad actors from gaining and impressing their influence over Floridians unjustly and unfairly. Regarding Flock cameras, I believe we need a moratorium on their deployment until we have strict regulations and in the interim close easy access to the captured information. We should mandate warrants for any access to the captured information, limit retention periods, and ensure there is no unauthorized public or privileged access to this data. Privacy is not a cost Floridians should pay. There are some fair arguments that this kind of technology can aid in making the state safer, but it's current application and access are privacy violations regardless of good intentions that may or may not have been part of the rollout of these systems. As for data centers, a similar response. We should have a State-wide moratorium that only releases when the to-be affected community has an opportunity to review and approve the development - so that if there is a reward that outweighs the risk for a given community they have that change. These new developments must all have conservation plans for energy and water; local and environmental risk mitigation plans before construction. My background is in themed entertainment design and build, so I know that these designs are possible and capable in current day construction. The only reason not to consider local people as stakeholders is so the developers and owners can cut corners and take advantage of Florida for their own financial benefit. These two arenas seem to fall into the same category of wanting unfettered placement in Florida at the cost of Floridians well being. Our job is to make sure freedom rules the day and safeguards are in place to protect all of us.