No one loves the Jason Bourne movies more than I do. Even though I’ve seen each a few dozen times, I recently watched all three Matt Damon-led films back-to-back just because I was bored and it was Saturday. The girlfriend is probably sick of me making Pamela Landy jokes. (“Get some rest Pam. You look tired.”) Big fan.

One of the cool (and slightly absurd) things is how the agents in the U.S. can pull up video while tracking Bourne at any time. This device doesn’t completely shatter our willing suspension of disbelief, because Europe has so many security cameras that track cars and people in just about every public area.

Now, I’m not saying we’re getting Jason Bourne-level close to that here, but after doing just a bit of research following the Dallas City Council’s approval to purchase license plate readers for the Dallas Police Department, I have to say I was shocked at how fast we’re building databases that track civilians in the U.S. And if you think the lone dissenting council voice, Angela Hunt, was overreacting when explaining her privacy concerns regarding the use of these devices, you’d be wrong.

First, a caveat: I’ve long felt as though those folks who fear our government, who create some sort of totalitarian boogeyman ready to declare war on its own citizenry, are not only ridiculous but also dangerous. (Jon Stewart, toward the end of this wonderful gun-nut rant, gets to the heart of why that is.) In general, I’ve thought many privacy concerns irrational — the “if you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about” argument.

But even I am concerned about the lack of debate going into the forming of a database that tracks Dallasites’ everyday movements. And, yes, I get that these will mostly go in high-crime areas. But isn’t that just another good reason to have this debate — because it’s going to largely target poorer areas of town, whose inhabitants have the least political capital to protect themselves from civil liberty abuse?

Hunt’s concern was not so much that we’d be gathering information on license plates in our search for stolen cars, outstanding warrants and acknowledged criminals. It was that we’d be keeping this data for six months or so, where it can be accessed and examined by an undetermined number of folks.

As worrisome to me is with whom DPD will share the information. Read this Wall Street Journal story about license plate scanning, which in 2010 was already being used in an estimated one-third of police departments nationwide. It outlines the race by private companies to gather data on cars (and therefore, to some extent, their drivers) and sell them to government agencies, police companies, repo men, bond bailsmen — pretty much anyone who could have a reason to scan a city’s haystack in search of their needle.

This is why the ACLU sued the government last year, to get details on these kinds of programs. (Hat-tip Unfair Park.) As an ACLU attorney put it:

Which was Hunt's point. The council said don’t worry, the public safety committee will figure all that out.

Look, I’m still not sure exactly how I come down on this. I sat in on a meeting with DPD chief David Brown a few years ago where he made a great case for “hotspot” policing, and how targeting high-crime areas makes everyone safer. I believe strongly in the power of Big Data, and that such analysis can help police do their job better. (Example: better tracking on use-of-force incidents.)

But when Mayor Mike dismisses Hunt’s very sensible concerns with a wave and a “ah, we’ll let the committee figure out the details,” he’s shirking his — and the council’s — duty. If they’re not there to have a fully informed public discussion about going all Jason Bourne on the citizens of Dallas, then what is he there for? Not to go all Pam Landy on you, but I want answers, people.

Elsewhere

I really don’t know what to say about this Steve Blow column, except this: My ex-father-in-law still whistles, still whittles and uses a pocket knife every day. Because he lives in the country! The reason you don’t see people doing this anymore is because you write for one of the largest metropolitan daily newspapers in America! Know what I mean? [Wink.]

Ben Affleck got robbed.

Retweets

I know! I totally just said that!

True dat.