Being recorded while on public property is not illegal in many jurisdictions, but it's certainly iffy and should not be normalized. Any cameras should be directed so that they're exclusively aimed at your own property.
Counterpoint: everyone needs to own their own video streams
I hate it, but you are being recorded everywhere you go. Your plates and your face get scanned every single day, all day long. This is normalized. Privacy is dead.
You will never get access to any of that data when you need it. It is not there to help you. You need to keep your own evidence of the world around you; you never know when you will need it.
Gdpr helps with this. I've made a SAR in the past for a recording. It's up to them to decide if the penalty of me having it is worse than the risk of getting caught illegally deleting it after
In the U.S., municipal vehicles have ALPR scanners on them. They go into a database
Cop cars will ping if a flagged plate is seen (even if the front and back plates don’t match) and the officer will pull you over. Literally happens every day.
They exist so that when someone wants to put you up against the wall, all they have to do is craft the right SQL query. That's the product of dragnet surveillance. The chilling effect is the point.
How often does that happen to you? How often does that happen to anyone you know? In both cases my answer is never. In many comments posted here I think the only thing you fear is fear itself.
