USNorth Carolina puts AI license-plate cameras on every state road — the ACLU calls it warrantless mass surveillance

North Carolina has permanently authorized AI-powered automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras on all state-maintained roads through a provision in its new budget. The cameras log not just plates but model, color, bumper stickers and scratches to build vehicle profiles that police can keep for up to 90 days, the Daily Tar Heel reported. A pilot program already had 12 police departments, 19 sheriffs' offices and the Highway Patrol running about 140 camera locations with tens of millions of reads; the budget opens it to every agency and expands it to 78% of the state's roads. Senate leader Phil Berger said people are driving in public, while the ACLU of N.C.'s Zac Contreras warned that mass surveillance systems rarely stay limited to their original purpose.