New police license plate readers, and how data center projects are avoiding public input
The video discusses a trend where municipalities are using non-disclosure agreements with data center companies, preventing public input on projects until construction begins. In New York, legislation has been proposed to ban these types of agreements to ensure transparency in data center developments.
The "Morning Minute" segment from CBS6 Albany covered two primary topics: police surveillance technology and data center development. It reported that Schenectady police recently installed 14 new license plate readers, supplied by Axon, which stores data for 90 days. This deployment occurs amid a national debate concerning such technologies, noting that another company, Flock, has scaled back its data retention to seven days.
The segment then transitioned to an issue impacting data center projects, revealing a trend where municipalities across the country are entering into non-disclosure agreements with developers. These NDAs effectively prevent public knowledge and input regarding proposed data center developments until after construction has already commenced, thereby circumventing traditional public review processes.
In response to these transparency concerns, legislation has been introduced in New York state with the goal of banning such non-disclosure agreements. However, the proposed bill has not yet been passed, leaving the issue of public awareness and the opportunity for input on large-scale data center projects unresolved.