A media fight has broken out over Flock's license-plate-reading cameras, framed as a warning about creeping mass surveillance in America.

• The Free Press, the outlet run by Bari Weiss, put out a video defending Flock's automated cameras.
• Its pitch — the cameras only care about you if you're a criminal, so law-abiding people have nothing to fear.
• Critics call that argument straight out of the old Soviet playbook: "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" as cover for constant monitoring.
• The defense is cast as anti-American and authoritarian, and as proof of where The Free Press really stands.

Outlook: Expect the clash over Flock cameras and who defends them to keep fueling the wider fight over surveillance and privacy.