They chip away at it piece by piece, each new program marketed as a way to save taxpayers money or improve efficiency. The latest example comes from Cape Coral, Florida, where city officials are considering equipping sanitation trucks with AI-powered cameras to scan neighborhoods for potential code violations as they make their normal garbage collection routes. Residents, however, immediately raised the questions governments rarely answer. I have warned repeatedly that society is drifting toward a surveillance state where governments monitor virtually every aspect of daily life. Governments rarely surrender powers voluntarily.