If some private companies in the United States have it their way, a nationwide surveillance network could be just years away, and we couldn’t be more concerned.

This technology is already being used in communities around Iowa to help ticket people who drive through red lights.

How would it work? By tracking motorists and their passengers whenever they pass linked video cameras set up along the road. The cameras would record a vehicle’s license plate number and send that information to a hard drive that is accessible by law enforcement agencies remotely.

So, let’s say when a state patrolman is searching for someone, they could send in a request to track a car and receive e-mail alerts whenever that car passes by a camera location.

But this technology wouldn’t be untested. In the U.S., cameras already record motorists who run red lights and go over the speed limit. By January the U.K. will have a system in place to track motorists nationwide.

Redflex is one of the top photo enforcement providers in the U.S. and Cherif Elsadek, regional director, commented in a recent article on the idea.

As Elsadek told thenewspaper.com, “Imagine if you had 1,500 or 2,000 cameras out there that could look out for the partial plate or full plate number across the 21 states where we do business today … this is the next step for our technology.”

In an age where even our college loses personal information for thousands of students and it seems like more and more social security numbers are stolen every week, we don’t believe we’re irrational for thinking this data collection is a risk for the privacy of everyone who is on the road and passes by these potential cameras.

We’re not looking at this proposal with the glass half empty. In fact, we’re looking at it half full — but with poison. Sure it could help solve Amber Alert cases and possibly track down stolen cars, but at what cost?

At some point a serious conversation needs to be had about this technology and what we’re willing to sacrifice for security.

To us, it does not include a nationwide surveillance network and the storage of driving habits of citizens.