Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Like data centers, automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) are incredibly unpopular with voters around the US. Plenty of local politicians are taking the hint, choosing to cancel controversial surveillance contracts with the granddad of ALPR companies, Flock Safety. In the tiny town of Bandera, Texas, however, one petty tyrant on the city council took personal offense after his fellow politicians voted 3-2 to immediately end their contract with Flock earlier this month. After voting, the dissenting councilmember, identified by 404 Media as Jeff Flowers, immediately went on the offensive, threatening to outlaw virtually all forms of modern technology and take the town “back to 1880.” In a statement shared by the town newspaper the Bandera Bulletin, Flowers addressed the roughly 900 residents who call the town home. “For months, I have listened to the outcry regarding [ALPR] technology,” he scathed. “I have seen the eyerolls, and I’ve even been met with ‘Nazi rhetoric,’ the dangerous claim that believing …