FULL VIDEO OF INTERVIEW BELOW
FLOCK CAMERAS AI SURVEILLANCE
U.S. Senate Candidate John Deaton appeared on the Paying Attention! Podcast with Valley Patriot publisher Tom Duggan last month where he revealed for the first time that he is opposed to flock cameras (among many other things) after being asked about their use violating the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.
Deaton says Flock/AI surveillance cameras used by the government raises both privacy and national-security concerns.
He said he would support legislation to stop it, and then explicitly said that FISA and Patriot Act gave the government too much power.
“That’s a form of Big Brother,” Deaton said adding that he has a track record of protecting privacy. When asked what kind of track record he has of protecting privacy he responded immediately.
“I sued the Securities Exchange Commission because of government overreach. The answer to your question is I have a history of fighting government overreach. And so, I would be someone who stands with you on that issue.”
“That’s the thing. It’s a national security risk. So, you write legislation and you’re going to have to educate enough people in Congress to join you on the legislation that would make laws to stop it and prevent it.”
When asked if he would be willing to write legislation to stop it completely, Deaton acknowledged that people generally do not have the same expectation of privacy while in public.
He added that the collection and storage of personal data creates a different privacy concern, particularly when that information can later be used against an individual or even for commercial targeting.
“Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, it’s going to be a fight because they’re going to say you don’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy on a public road. All of which is true.”
“But you do have an expectation of privacy with your data, anything that can be used as a weapon against you.”
“We’re going to have to deal with this new era of AI surveillance. Listen, I’m someone who believes they went too far with FISA, the Patriot Act, all of that.”
HEALTH CARE & INSURANCE MONOPOLIES
Deaton criticized the Healey administration over hospital closures pointing to Holy Family Hospital. Holy Family’s Methuen and Haverhill campuses were ultimately saved from closure during Steward Health Care’s 2024 bankruptcy when Lawrence General Hospital acquired them with state assistance thanks to Representatives Reyes, Moran, Hamilton and Paulino as well as Senator Payano.
However, the controversy over health-care access has continued, with the former Holy Family Methuen campus closing its maternity unit this summer despite the Department of Public Health determining the service was necessary for preserving health-care access in the region.
“The point that I’m saying is, it goes to your point, Tom. [Governor Healey] couldn’t help all the thousands and thousands of patients, the hundreds of nurses and lab techs that are all out of a job. There was no money to help them, but [she] found four billion dollars to help the illegals! We’ve got to get our priorities straight!”
Deaton also touched another third-rail issue in Massachusetts, which is the health insurance monopoly which is squeezing outpatient care and costing lives.
“I talked about Teddy Roosevelt who came in and busted the trusts. Like, we have to break up the three vertically integrated insurance companies in our health care (and the banks). For God’s sake, we got to break it up.”
“People forget that it was a Republican who went in there and saved capitalism. If we don’t take the approach that I support – which is a Teddy Roosevelt approach – then … charismatic socialists are going to keep winning because young people are going to turn to those socialists.”
“We have socialism today, Tom. It’s called corporate socialism.”
“The Affordable Care Act was never affordable. [It] allowed three insurance companies, vertically integrated all the way from manufacturing to retail at the pharmacy level, to control over 90% of our health care.”
“These government subsidies that we’re giving to these three companies is a form of corporate socialism [welfare]. We have to end that, and we have to end all these subsidies.” ◊