Slashdot Mirror
Wireless, GPS-Loaded 'Bait Car' Traps Thieves
captainClassLoader writes: "The Washington Post is reporting that a late-model car, loaded with wireless surveillance gear, a remote kill switch and GPS, is being left (unlocked, presumably) on the streets of the Washington, D.C. metro area as 'bait' for car thieves. This article reports that they've just made their first bust with the vehicle."
Who pays the parking tickets on these?
GPS: "Help! I'm being towed!"
This
They've had that here (Hamilton, Ontario) for a while... they leave them in movie theater parking lots.
Thieves in my area steal the cars with OnStar right off the light...sure, they catch them but usually it's a little too late.
keys in the ignition also?
There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.
Now I'm only waiting for the bicycle version. I lose at least one bike a year in the mean streets and garages of San Francisco.
It catches car thieves, but only car thieves. This is one of the few uses of technology that has zero probability of catching "the wrong guy".
I wonder if this technology would be extended to the private consumer level?
If I weren't nailed to the penis, I'd be pushing up the daisies!
But I'm surprised the headline wasn't: Grand Theft Auto Illegal in Arlington, VA (yro, games)!
sulli
RTFJ.
There is a difference between finding a watch on the street and finding a car on the street.
"Holy cow, look at all the cars people lost in this parking lot!"
--Scott
...and I am driving you to the nearest police station where you will be handed over to the authorities. Thank you and have a nice day!
A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with. - Tennessee Williams
If you read the article:
He does not anticipate any successful challenges from defense attorneys that the tactic is entrapment.
"Entrapment is where the government plants the seed of a crime in the mind of individual who would not otherwise be criminally inclined," Trodden said. " . . . We don't want that. But if we had somebody who was out there, ready to steal something . . . it's good police work."
BTW, Jose doesn't look happy in his booking photo.
"We're sorry, but the website you're trying to reach has been disconnected."
I can already hear the cries of "entrapment" about to spring up all over this article, so I'll point out this definition of entrapment, which would seem to indicate that this method (placing a "bait" car in likely spots) is NOT entrapment. I imagine that a court would actually need to rule on this (IANAL), but it's fairly clear-cut to me. Simply placing a car in an area where it is likely to get stolen would not, to any reasonable person, qualify as "government agents [persuading or talking] the person into committing the crime".
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
Click here or here.
No. Because you are neither forcing nor coercing them into stealing said object. Just leaving it out does not mean entrapment. It's the same when cops go undercover to buy or sell drugs, catching the sellers or buyers. They are not coercing the future jailbird into buying or selling, just like in this, the cops are not coercing the auto thieves into stealing said 'wired' vehicle.
EFGearman
Atomic batteries to power! Turbines to speed!
I'm so glad that the people on Slashdot read the article before posting.
"Entrapment is where the government plants the seed of a crime in the mind of individual who would not otherwise be criminally inclined," Trodden said. " . . . We don't want that. But if we had somebody who was out there, ready to steal something . . . it's good police work."
-- Dr. Eldarion --
Cars can't talk.
Why don't they 'salt' a few 1982 Lotus Turbo Esprits? Don't those blow up when you break into them?
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain
If the potential thieves read the newspapers and stop stealing cars (they don't know which one is the trap) that would do just fine.
The guy stole the car. It happened to belong to the ACPD. And it happened to have fancy electronics in it. But he still stole the car. So he's toast.
sulli
RTFJ.
Now thanks to the Wasington Post, I know there are a bunch of cars sitting unlocked, and all I need to do to steal them is bring some radio jamming equipment! Sweet!
were going to see a mydrid of posts condeming this as entrapment. No one forces these people to commit these crimes. So what have we to fear?
I wonder what it would take to entrap you? We all have our limits. I bet it would be possible to devise a situation in which you would knowingly break the law. Where do you draw the line?
"A person is 'entrapped' when he is induced or persuaded by law enforcement officers or their agents to commit a crime that he had no previous intent to commit; and the law as a matter of policy forbids conviction in such a case."
The guy they arrested was arrested with burglary tools on his person. So quite obviously he did in fact have previous intent to commit, and enrapment won't be an issue.
I posted to
Doesn't matter a damn what your intention is. Only matters what criminal scum intentions are.
As long as the car looked and "behaved" exactly like the other cars in the area, the police are off the "entrapment" hook BS. I.e., locked up no keys in ignition, parked normally... etc.
How can this possibly be entrapment? You get in the car (that isn't yours) and you drive off with it, and you get caught. It doesn't matter if the engine is running or what, the only exception might be if they wrote a big sign saying "Please steal me" and stuck it on the car (in which case they would only catch the really really stupid criminals).
As for leaving something out on the sidewalk, I suspect there are laws about abandoned property that would apply (since someone could pick it up with the intent to turn it in/return it). I don't see how someone could get into someone else's car and drive off with the same intentions.....
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Entrapment is where police are getting someone to commit a crime where they would not normally commit one. In this case, they just leave a car in a parking lot (locked or unlocked) and wait for someone to come by and steal it. Since they are not making th vehicle more enticing to thieves or not so regular passersby(by leaving the car on or something) it's not entrapment
00110100 00110010
...but it probably wouldn't go over well and might be difficult to implement.
Instead of GPS trackers, the cars could be rigged to explode when the ignition was started. Of course in this case you need failsafes to make sure that nothing else will set off the bomb. You also need to worry about collateral damage and it'll get expensive after awhile...
...then again, it is government spending. And it will insure a low repeat offender count.
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!
There's much worse than that in Death Wish. Bronson walks around with a camera hanging from his shoulder, the target (a pickpocketer) runs from behind him, grabs the camera and keeps running in front of him. Then he gets his BIG GUN and shoots the guy DEAD IN THE BACK! How's that for punishment fitting the crime? I was expecting him to shoot his leg. Note, this is not just "shown", this is ADVERTISED AS THE RIGHT AND HEROIC THING TO DO!
The bait described in the article, on the other hand, is 100% correct and clean. I wish "real" cars had that too.
What do you think a car theif does with a stolen car? They bring it somewhere. And then what happens? Someone else brings it somewhere else. Eventually it winds up in a chop shop. Just as they're getting ready to rip it apart, every link in the chain gets busted.
Then you grab their address books and check out their phone logs and see who they associate with...
--
Mod up a post Rob doesn't like and you'll never mod again
..and if I see this thing parked in front of my apt, it's so keyed.
More danger to people when they're entering/leaving the car if this gets really popular because the thieves will stop trusting the free standing car. I can imagine the thieves resorting to using a gun to get the person out of the way and then steal the car.
Also I suppose the thieves can just observer the car for a while. If no one uses it for 2 or 3 days then it's a given that's a bait. The cops might have to have people using the car in some realistic way.
d.
I hate the fact that you people don't salute me
I don't think it's entrapment. Entrapment is encouraging a crime to happen. These cops aren't encouraging anything.
To the average law abiding person, it's just a car, nothing special. It's an average Accord/Camry/whatever, something you see a thousand times a day. Even if the doors were unlocked, so what? It's not like there's a neon light flashing above the car saying "I'm unlocked", you have to take a close look into the car to see. Most people don't look into every car they walk by.
This is a far cry from a undercover cop walking up to your car and offering to give you drugs or a blowjob for some money. In that case, the police are actively encouraging you to do a crime.
"People that quote themselves in their signatures bother me" - athakur999
They designed it poorly. The damn thing should not just shut off with the kill switch, but lock the dumbass in.
It should take still photographs of his face with a hidden camera, while he's in the act.
Hell, the thing should have external hidden cameras, so that it can take pics of vandals.
If they wanted to, they could make this car a REAL pain for criminals.
I forget what the original name was but the Ricochet modem was used in NYC so taxi companies could track down stolen taxi's. Later that system was purchased by Metricom and reworked to become the Ricochet wireless system we know today. Even after Metricom purchased it, there were times it was used to track things like stolen customer laptops, cars, basically anything that was attatched to it could be tracked.
Not necessarily. At least in most jurisdictions, "Entrapment" is law enforcement officers inducing or encouraging a person to commit a crime when the potential criminal wasn't inclined to commit the crime. Like many crimes, intent is important.
For example, if the cops are doing a drug sting, in which an undercover agent is selling drugs on the street, if a customer merely comes up and buys drugs, it's usually not entrapment, since the guy would've bought the drugs if the seller wasn't a narc. But if the agent pressures the buyer if the buyer wasn't already motivated to buy drugs, then it probably is.
In this case, it would be argued that the person stealing the car was already inclined to steal a car, so there would be no entrapment.
But yes, there is a lot of grey area here.
(No, I'm not a lawyer)
Next years budget:
$1,600,000 for a few sports cars that can be driven around by officers and used as "bait".
"Yeah but look how many idiots we caught with the peice of junk we used last year"
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Entrapment is the act of enticing people to commit crimes by making exact request for them to commit the crime and catch them.
A easy example of entrapment in a sting is classic prostitution sting. If the police woman offers "The John" money for sex that is entraping. However if the police woman implies that she is there as a prostitute and "The John" comes forward and offers money for sex that isn't entrapment.
Leaving a car out on the street to see who will steal it is a great way to setup a clean sting. As long as the police never suggest that they want someone to steal the car then the car is stolen by a person of their own modivation.
If I leave a wallet on the sidewalk with bills hanging out and someone picks it up and walks off with it, they've committed no crime. If they walk up to my unlocked car with the keys in it parked legally, they break the law as soon as they open my door. I'm not required by the law to lock it. Temptation isn't entrapment.
Entrapment is my promising to send you pictures of hot chicks, then sending you pictures of little kids, then arresting you for having them. You have been persuaded or coerced into committing a crime, whether you'd have committed it yourself later or not.
I saw something like this on TLC a couple of months ago. I think they were operating in DC, Detroit, dunno, some big city. The difference there was that they didn't allow the thief to STEAL the car, they just lock the bastard in the car and radio police to come pick 'em up (or the cops are watching from across the street).
Really fun to watch those stinkers learn they've walked into a trap! Lots of different reactions -- all amusing.
This was also the plot of a Knight Rider episode.
The Daily Build
I live in NYC and nothing turns my stomach more walking down the sidewalks is seeing a bike chained to a pole stripped everything attached with a bolt. I am an avid cyclist in the city and I would never, ever leave my bike outside because of theft. Cops don't even care. They don't seem to realize that bikes can cost hundred and hundreds of dollars or like my Specialized, thousands. It is a big deal monetarily.
ABC had a 20/20 episode where they had a hidden camera and a bike chained to a post. It took only 5 minutes before the thieves went after it every time they set it up. Typical response of the thief was "Oh, I thought this was my bike. Sorry!", then they would run away.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Now, where can I buy the fake stickers that read:
Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
Why bother with all this electronic stuff when a few kg:s of C4 under the seat will do the job as well, just connect the primer to the ignition in the car. Of course the car will be totalled too, but hey, at least you don't have to feed them crooks in prison. As an added bonus big explosions look cool too!
Minneapolis and a few other cities have had a similar program running very sucessfully here over the last 5 years. I believe a couple of the people who were busted even tried to use the entrapment defense, which was summarily shot down in the courts since no one made them steal the car, or even gave them the idea to.
You don't just pick up a car and walk with it. A car requires a key, so having to hotwire it would be equivalent to breaking and entering. Furthermore, a car has a title which states the owner, whereas a watch doesn't.
Simply finding something is one thing. Doing work to take something else is completely different.
Devise a situation, I'm curious.
Well of course I don't know much about you, but I think many educated people who consider themselves law-abiding would be tempted by a "white-collar fraud" where the rewards are big and the chances of getting caught very small.
You sure don't see many technological innovations being directed at automated crimefighting in boardrooms. Those boardmembers sure hate the idea that someone would inconvenience them by taking their stupid car, though.
When I was a kid, we only had one Darth.
In this case, it's more like the crooked Quickie-Mart mart employee walking up to random 16 year old and trying to sell her some cigarettes and then getting busted.
"People that quote themselves in their signatures bother me" - athakur999
"Entrapment is where the government plants the seed of a crime in the mind of individual who would not otherwise be criminally inclined,"
So lets do a little review:
1) They are using a car from the most stolen list.
2) The electronics are OBVIOUSLY not visible.
3) It is doctored with trash, etc. To make it look normal to the area.
So Joe Blow is walking through the parking lot, and thinks to himself...DAMN! That looks like one regular car! Now, I'm not one who would ever think of stealing a car.... I mean the keys aren't even left in the ignition, but I just can't help myself. The seeds are planted....can't control self...MUST....STEAL...CAR!
Yep, must be entrapment.
Whoops! You misspelled "hours" in your comment.
-
Inventor of the term 'pardon my French'.
Would it be stealing if I hopped in the car and drove it back to the police station?
Since this news is now out in the public, I'm sure the Washington DC police are already working on other secret plans for catching "the bad guy". Kinda like military technology documentaries (propaganda) that supposedly show the latest in military technology... fact is, they're showing the latest *declassified* information, which means they're already truly onto bigger and better things.
Skiers and Riders -- http://www.snowjournal.com
that way the Police cant aford them and you know its safe
"why is it bad unlocking codes are all the same we need to get into the cars and we are the only ones with the key"-- rep
Porsche has a dealer code for the unlocking IR that you can clone and get into all 1998 models funny as fuck to watch peoples face when you open their car via your watch (-;
regards
john jones
Yeah, nice idea. When your first passenger idly opens the compartment and takes a secret swig whilst you pop into a 7-11 or something and then, like, DIES.
Plus, in the eyes of the law, even for thieves; killing isn't considered to good for them; it's too bad for you- you're going DOWN.
Or when the thief doesn't like whiskey and gives it to his sister...
-WolfWithoutAClause
"Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"The ones who get caught stealing the car will spend a night or two in jail, get probation (maybe), and get another line added to thier probably already long list of offences to society. Then they'll be back on the street.
In the meantime people are getting locked up for writing software that the MPAA and/or RIAA (or Adobe) takes offense to. Or for smoking a plant. Or for consentual activities between adults.
The wireless GPS car is all very well and good, but taking thousands of dollars worth of property that is not yours is an offense that, IMO, should land someone in jail for a time on the order of decades, not days. But we all know exactly what will happen to those who are arrested.
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
Do they really need to say "Wireless"?
Was there a (not-so-successful) previous attempt at this, but with wires coming out of it?
m00.
The police don't only have the function of solving crimes they exist also to deter crime. You don't put more cops on the street so that more criminals get caught so much as you put cops on the street to make criminals think twice about committing that crime. This seems like an excellent deterrent and the article says that car theft has dropped in other places where the bait cars were used. So, yes they spent taxpayer money on this, but I'd rather have my car not stolen in the first place than have the cops find it after its been chopped.
No brain, no pain!
I think that's awesome when they lock the guys in the car automatically and they can't get out. It's even funnier when the cops are calmly walking towards the car and the theif's panic level starts to hit maximum.
A hidden alarm/alert and a locking door system couldn't cost more than $5k. I think they should put these in lots and lots of places. It might actually put a dent in the car theft business.
Entrapment would be having a police officer siddle up to people and say "Hey, that car's unlocked. Why not steal it?"
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
It won't be long now until Ron Popeil has an infomercial for the:
AutoTrapp (extra 'p' for a catchy name)
Along with a has-been or no-name actress and a paid audience with great clapping ability, you too can find out how you can get this remarkable device (which also cleans vinyl records) for,
Not $3000,
not $2000,
not even $1000,
but for 4 easy payments of $99.95 (plus $78.34 S/H)
Why isn't that "someone" you?
I was expecting the same thing. People tend to cry entrapment whenever police come up with a way to catch them doing something illegal. I think the whole entrapment law is kinda fuzzy. If the cops leave something lying around and you steal it, your guilty of theft. Just because it was left by the police instead of a private citizen doesn't make you any less guilty.
I'm the big fish in the big pond bitch.
In this case there is a BIG difference.
The theft of our "dummy" car is a victimless crime. No one suffers when it is stolen. Not all "criminals" cause damage to "innocents".
I pay the police through my tax dollars because they are a reasonably strong deterrant to criminals who would otherwise harm me. I don't pay them to encourage a crime so they can swoop in and bust (and make $$$ from) the perps.
This behavior is disgusting.
Entrapment would be if a cop (not in uniform, of course) saw you walking by and said "Hey, you know you want to help me steal this car." or something else that coerced you into commiting the crime.
Bascially (keep in mind that IANAL) entrapment defences say that the accused would not have commited the crime if the pollice officer did not urge him to do so. This is definately not extrapment. The car is sitting there, just as other cars are. If someone steals it, they're going to get caught.
This is going to be a great technology to protect your car fron theft and deter would-be criminals from doing so.
So what exactly was wrong with that? Seriously, the guy was a thief, knew what he was doing was 100% wrong. You really want this guy around? A little chlorine in the gene pool if you ask me!
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
Uh-huh, yeah. Since when did watching "Clerks" become research for a post?
"People that quote themselves in their signatures bother me" - athakur999
I don't give a shit if he intended to commit the act or not. He saw an oppurtunity to commit a crime and took it. Fuck that if it's entrapment, someone that unstable deserves to be punished.
I'm the big fish in the big pond bitch.
I think that'd violate the Constitutional restrictions on cruel and unusual punishments.
Best Slashdot Co
Although, if crooks know that these cars are out there looking like any other car, they may be less likely to steal any car.
The big problem with this is if they come up with a way to detect the GPS signal coming from the car. It would be cool if you could simulate any signature it gives off and deter crooks that are savy enough to look for the signal.
THIS SPACE FOR RENT
All your other exmaples of what you want the cops doing are hard to lump together with car theft. Car theft is a crime that results in a loss to its victim. Drug use and prostitution are somewhat victimless crimes. If you don't have problem with people stealing cars, maybe someone should steal your car? Gun ownership isn't a crime outright, so I don't know where you came up with that one.
How the fuck are you supposed to "protect the citizens" if you can't "hunt down the criminals"?
XML causes global warming.
It's not a GPS-based system. It doesn't even use the cell phone network, relying on its own infrastructure. It's based on car units and direction-finding receivers in police cars. Each car unit has a transmitter and receiver, but doesn't normally transmit. The unit constantly listens for a message on an FM broadcast station subcarrier. On receipt of the proper message, the unit starts transmitting the "I'm stolen" signal, which is received by receivers in police cars. The signal doesn't contain any positional information; somebody has to do the direction-finding job the hard way.
Lojack covers major metropolitan areas in about a dozen states. It requires cooperation from the local cops, so it takes a major marketing and negotiation effort to get it into a city.
There's no deterrent effect if they can't catch the criminals because they cannot find them, nor is there much evidence to suggest that "bait" cars turn non-thieves into thieves, instead of misdirecting those who intend to be car thieves into stealing the wrong cars.
Only the dead have seen the end of war.
Normal people don't pay for sex, so if a cop offers a prostitute money for sex, that's entrapment.
Normal people do leave their car's in places where the car can be stolen, the fact that the police can track this particular car just improves the chances of the police catching the criminal.
Put another way, if you had a phat car and left the doors unlocked, keys in, engine running with a wad of benji's hanging out of the glove compartment, and I stole your car, I would not have an entrapment defense.
My other sig is extremely clever...
You are a dumb ass. Hunting down car thieves lowers the probability that your car will get stolen. Just the fact that it's been done once helps you out. I don't want my tax dollars paying for cops sitting on the road with a radar gun, however I do want them to continue getting real criminals off of the street. Guess what, that's the beauty of the tax system, you can pretend that your money doesn't go to sting operations and I can pretend mine doesn't go to traffic cops.
I'm the big fish in the big pond bitch.
Me, I'd consider it harmful to have my car stolen, and if the police can reduce the likelihood of such without violating anyone's civil rights (and I don't believe there's a right to steal cars, whether or not the police own them) I'm all for it.
The presence of bait cars may wind up being a strong deterrent to car thieves, since they'll be unable to tell whether a given car will get them caught or not. Even if you say you only want police to act as deterrents, you have to agree that no deterrent is effective unless it bites once in a while.
And exactly how much money do you think they're making from the guy in the article?
Car rental places in South Africa are even offering the option of renting cars with or without the flamethrowers installed.
Cars do talk, or did at one time. Back in the 80s there was a fad of sorts of cars telling drivers status updates and safety warnings: "Please fasten your seatbelt," "A door is ajar," "Please refill the oil," etc. They drove owners nuts and didn't last long. But they lasted long enough for Eddie Murphy to do a very funny bit about them - I can't find a transcript on google, but I bet someone has it.
sulli
RTFJ.
What's the point? There are a certain number of people who want to steal cars. Given the choice between: 1) Criminal steal bait car, gets caught nearly 100% of the time and is off the streets for at least a short time and 2) Criminal steals my car (or my friends car, or my parents car), gets away nearly 100% of the time, and is able to steal another car tomorrow. I'd prefer the bait car, thanks.
Prostitution and drug dealing is arguably different. If the law and the police weren't involved, everyone involved would be willing to allow the action (the sale of sex/drugs) to occur. Car theft is different. As the owner of the car, I never want someone to steal my car. There are no sane arguments for why car theft is good. Catching someone who steals cars is good. These people are predators who know that they are breaking the law and know that they are depriving another human being of their physical property.
Law enforcement is supposed to product the law-abiding. Protect them from what? Criminals. Catching the criminals before they steal from the law-abiding seems like effective, pro-active protection to me.
I for one hope police use bait like this in more cases, I know too many people who have had car windows smashed and car stereos stolen. I know too many people who have had apartments broken into.
Drug use and prostitution are somewhat victimless crimes.
Drug use is not victimless crime since hardcore users are going to knock people over the head or steal for their next fix. Drug Abusers rarely have jobs that can support thier habit.
The groups that import drugs into this country are most violent and cause a lot of coruption in countries that grow, process and transport drugs. A good example would be Mexico; it would be a much nicer country if their were no drugs flowing through it.
Linux O Muerte!
I tend to agree that it isn't entrapment. But depending on what they do, it may be dangerously close and set a bad precedent for other areas of law. Also, if they leave the key in the ignition, they will probably end up catching many more low-level crooks that might otherwise not steal cars.
The Minneapolis / St. Paul Police departments have been using this for at least two years. Wireless kill switch and viedo included. They flip a switch the car dies the doors lock and the lights start going nuts. Surround the car and BUSTED... But seriously nothing new to see here.
Naah, leaving an unlocked car on the street isn't entrapment. That deosn't incite you to cause a crime-- you're not suppossed to steal stuff, regardless of its secureness.
Now, if there was an undercover cop lurking nearby, pointing out the car was unlocked and offering you fifty bucks to steal it for him-- that's entrapment.
Marc Siry || interactive media professional, motorcycle enthusiast ||
That's a good point. If there were enough "bait" cars around to make it statistically probable enough to make a thief think twice, that's great.
But I think that along with myself, the (grand)parent poster is concerned with the tone of the Washington Post article. The focus is CLEARLY on "catching the perp" rather than "serving and protecting" which, if you take a realistic look at policework today, is exactly what cops are doing more and more.
I am also personally against the practice of officers offering drugs for sale and posing as prostitutes--just my opinion of course. If your conscience permits you to lock people up without even a victim, hey it's your world--I just live in it.
I would ask cops whom my taxes pay to clean up real crimes, rather than providing criminals with more opportunities.
welcome to the world of libertarianism. you are now an official member.
no matter what the law says, everything you said IS entrapment (in my mind, and many others)
car theft has a victim, the cars owner. but in this case, this is a victimless crime. buying drugs is a victimless crime. propositioning prostitutes is a victimless crime.
libertarians = (vicitimless crime != crime)
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
I say we go get the motherfucker!
Best Slashdot Co
there is publicity for this car being left in the open to be stolen, so anyone in the area stealing cars that can pick up a newspaper is going to be on the lookout for it
Yeah, the cops are so incredibly stupid that they are going to put the exact same car on the front of the paper out to catch thieves.
Meanwhile, at a Dunkin' Donuts:
"Hey Steve, I just came up with an idea, I think the criminals have noticed our specific car, and we might need to move all of the electronics to A NEW CAR. That way they won't know that it is the rigged car."
"Buddy, you just made detective."
They've been doing similar in the UK for many years. You don't need the GPS rubbish either, you just arrange that the car doors lock the moment someone shuts them, and don't provide any means to open the doors or windows from inside.
I have seen a similiar car used in California. They had the police footage on one of those "real video" shows. The car has cameras inside the vehicle showing the thief in action. After the car is stolen the Police activate a starter kill switch that not only stops the car but locks all the doors and prevents the windows from being rolled down. The video footage of the theif trying to get out is very entertaining. One car theif actually punched out the drivers side window at was half way out when the police caught up and arrested him.
http://www.kubuntu.org/
So, like, if I live in DC and my personal automobile is the same make and model as the bait car, then perhaps I could expect my car theft susceptability to decrease?
If they used enough of these of particular kinds, then I'd expect it to show up in the car insurance actuarial tables.
Unfortunately, the bait car is probably not a car that I would be likely to own. Mebbe a mid-1980s orange Yugo?
"Provided by the management for your protection."
It catches car thieves, but only car thieves. This is one of the few uses of technology that has zero probability of catching "the wrong guy".
I'm now waiting for the first action movie out of Hollywood that features a tough, no-nails cop breaking into an available car to chase an escaping murder suspect, only to be stopped in traffic two minutes later by a different part of the department.
Even if the police leave the bait car running unattended, it is still not entrapment. Most car thefts occur when the owner leaves the car running unattended in front of 7-11, or warming up out on the street; worse yet, many owners leave the keys in their cars.
In fact, leaving the car running 'unattended' may be an even better tactic, since it requires less expensive equipment, plus the police can bust several people an hour in the bad neighborhoods.
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
So we have a crook with the electronics knowledge to design and build a device that can detect the GPS signal from the car.
Why, then, is he stealing cars instead of working in the electronics industry?
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
Doesn't matter. You can detect a receiver; that's the concept behind the VG-2 radar detector detector. It's also the reason why you can't use devices that _receieve_ signals on an aircraft.
You might not turn on the GPS until the car rolls, but that's a different story...
Using bait cars that can be disabled remotely to catch car thieves is nothing new - video from these cars has been on many of the countless police videos shows that were big before the more recent "reality" shows. The new thing is the use of GPS to track the cars, eliminating the need to keep police officers sitting around watching the car. This frees them up for other things while the car thieves still get caught.
Anonymous, and mean. I haven't felt offended in a while.....and definitely thought that I'd feel offended coming off of Slashdot!
So it goes..
so what about this grey ford taurus that's been parked in the same spot at church for almost a year now? the windows are turning brown and their is dirt and pine needles under and around the wheels...is that abandoned?
What is your Slash Rating?
http://www.jabootu.com/deathwish3.htm
The next morning, Paul and Rodriguez are on patrol when the Giggler grabs another purse. They give chase, but are soon outdistanced. (We only see Bronson running in very short clips. This helps imply that his character is running the whole distance, without causing Bronson's heart to explode in his chest.) "This Wildey friend of yours," the disgusted Rodriguez asks, "can he catch this guy?" Kersey nods yes. Back at the apartment, Bennett asks who Wildey is. "You'll see!," the impish Kersey replies. Next we see Kersey accepting a cake box sized parcel at the mail service shop. Laying the package on his table at home, Kersey looks up, and we see that all his neighbors are in attendance. "Wildey's here!," he tells them. Oh, boy! Finally, we're going to meet Wildey. Man, after all that build-up, this is going to be great!
Needless to say, it's not. Wildey turns out to be a gigantic semi-automatic pistol manufactured by Wildey, Inc. "Real stopping power," Kersey notes. Then, like some transparent audience shill in an infomercial, Bennett pipes up. "Is that like a .44 magnum?," he asks. No, Kersey replies.
The .44 is a pistol cartridge, the Wildey magnum is, "a shorter version of the African big game cartridge." (Whatever that means.) You know what
that means, right? Kersey's packin' bigger than Dirty Harry! You go, Dude! ('Dude'? I've got to stop doing that.) Anyway, it's reassuring that
Kersey will be toting the kind of firepower that you'd use to nail a rhinoceros or elephant.
Now comes the movie's low point, surprisingly revolting even for a picture like this. Maria is assaulted by Fraker and three more of the gang. Almost immediately, her shirt is ripped opened, as this scene is being used as an excused to bare some breasts. (This is why the almost pathologically modest Maria isn't wearing a bra; it would get in the way of breast baring.) Frankly, I had thought that the reprehensible practice of using rape scenes to inject some 'sex' into a picture had gone by the boards, even in exploitation flicks. Unfortunately, this film proved me wrong. My only advice is to have your remote ready when this scene begins.
We cut to Rodriguez, crying in his apartment. You can tell that it's his because of the decorative sombreros (!) on the wall. Kersey and Bennett are there to provide comfort. The report has come in: Maria was raped, but her physical injuries are restricted to a broken arm. Kersey orders a taxi and takes Rodriguez to the hospital. Meeting with her doctor, they learn that Maria has in fact died. The arm was badly shattered, resulting in blood clots that broke loose and made their way to the heart.
Back at Kersey's apartment, he's lovingly assembling new cartridges for his Wildey. Then, tucking the piece into his waistband, he heads out for the street, grabbing a camera case. (Unsurprisingly, a big logo for Nikon is quite noticeable - this is a classic example of produce placement, even though in this case I suspect it was arranged by the Pentax company.) Kersey walks down the block to the local grocery, and buys himself an ice cream bar. He also tosses one to that kid who gave him the power salute earlier. Back on the street, he spots the Giggler, and lazily hangs the camera case over his shoulder. Sure enough, the Giggler takes the bait. This time, however, Kersey is ready. He pulls out the Wildey and blows him away. This leads to an uproar of applause and celebration from the locals, as 'triumph' music plays in the background.
The next morning the rest of the gang is bummed out. "They killed the Giggler!," one sensitive young hood cries. "They had no business doin' that," Fraker agrees. Meanwhile, Shriker shows up to check out the crime scene. A woman, one of the celebrating citizens from the previous evening, runs over to give him her two cents. "I'm glad he's dead," she shouts. "He took my pocketbook three weeks ago!" (Wow, talk about a law and order mentality!) Shirker pulls back the sheet to examine the corpse, complete with a neat circular 'wound' through his chest. "There's not much left of this sucker, is there?," he inquires. Well, yeah, actually. Pretty much all of him, save for the part of his chest through which the bullet passed. I mean, they're not going to have to collect his remains with a sponge or anything.
I do not deploy Linux. Ever.
They'll make everyone want one of these, and since they conveniently can't tell you where the device is that triggers this event because then the burglars would know, they could monitor you at any time. What's to say that they don't set it off saying "Hey..I'm going over the speed limit here. Come arrest me".
And of course we can't put these things into computers first or some other segment of society where there might have been a chance of the person getting nabbed wasn't brown. Let's exploit minorities even further. Yay. Now, I know that maybe -- just maybe he would have taken a car no matter what, but you could make the argument that maybe crack wouldn't have been such a hit if we didn't push that into the black community too, or maybe they would have found it anyways and exploited it on their own.
And why don't we do this with guns? Things that kill people, so we could know where they were at all times, but I'm sure the NRA wouldn't hear of that.
I think this is going too far.
What, you think that each thief steals one car and then retires?
What they're doing here makes it less likely that your car will be stolen. If your car is the only one on the street, and someone wants to steal a car, there's a 100% chance that it'll be yours, and some <100% chance that it'll be recovered.
On the other hand, if this trap car is also on the streets, then there's only a 50% chance yours will be selected for theft. And there's a 100% chance the thief will be caught before he comes back to steal your car.
You should be on your knees thanking the Arlington police for this.
(Personally, I don't like it, because I believe that car theft improves urban quality-of-life by driving up the cost of car ownership, but that's neither here nor there for this discussion.)
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
car thefts will drop (and car insurance will drop).
Sadly, you're probably only half-right. Those fscking greedy insurance companies will find another BS reason to keep rates high.
~Philly
if you keep it shiny washed and waxed, it'll stick out as a police car...think about how many average cars on the road are washed and how many have pollen clinging to them?
What is your Slash Rating?
That was featured in a bogus commercial in one of the RoboCop movies. The owner opens his car door to find a totally char-broiled car thief spill out.
I actually seriously considered buying a crossbow, so i could sit atop my condo building at night and wait for some asshole to come along and fuck with my car. I figured I wouldn't kill him - but a leg shot would be satisfying.
I have no clue why anyone would sympathize with car thieves. This program does nothing to hurt honest people who are living their lives. Maybe you've just got a knee-jerk reaction to The Law, but in this case, the cops are doing something that helps make normal people's lives easier.
Considering how pathetic the District cops usually are, this is a good sign.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
keying the car is vandalism...but then...I guess you don't support the boys in blue...
as for the ac troll...it was pretty harsh, yeah, but that's why you ignore ac trolls...if they don't have the guts to show who they really are, it really isn't worth your bother to get upset...indeed, if you spend any amount of time on slashnet, you get used to flaming them right back
What is your Slash Rating?
While I certainly would like to see this idea implemented it is, IIRC, illegal in America to booby-trap a car or house to cause injury to someone. This also leads to the warning labels that you see indicating "This house protected by ADT" or some such agency.
Unfortunately, "This house protected by Heckler and Koch three nights a week, you guess which three" doesn't qualify as legal warning.
you can claim the insurance money and buy a toyota :)
then again...wasn't it kia that was advertising how great their cars were in terms of warranty/price/etc compared with everyone else? my thought seeing those commercials was "that's the only way you're gonna sell those pieces of junk"....but then...I'm biased...I got a Volvo.
What is your Slash Rating?
Only if you can convince a jury that an ordinary person would be compelled to steal the car under such circumstances, a tough sell if you ask me.
You've never seen a car left running unattended at the curb outside a store? I live in Washington DC - not exactly Mayberry - and I see that regularly.
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
Not only that, but at the local sev, they got rid of Cherry and introduced Sour Cherry at the same time the new WWF inspired flavor came out. Now I am stuck drinking my specially ordered caffiene free Dr Pepper with real sugar.
Lasers Controlled Games!
What they need is some sort of X-Ray machine concealed in the drivers seat, that bombards the thief's genitals with radiation...
...thereby cutting down on FUTURE dumbasses as well.
"Stop stealing my watch!"
"What are you talking about? I found it right here just *lying* on your arm! It's mine!"
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
You can do something nearly simliar with your own car if you want to pay the monthly service charges on CDPD or a similar packet data network. Basically grab a CDPD modem that is capable of telemetry. Tie a NEMA capable GPS receiver to it. When you need to know where your car is telnet to the CDPD modem on a particular port and watch the NEMA stream. Heck, redirect it to something like Delorme AAA Map'n'Go and watch your car drive down the road. I imagine it would be a simple exercise to direct the police to your vehicle.
Now, this working as an effective recovery device depends on the car being able to acquire a GPS signal and maintain it, ability to communicate on the CDPD network, and finding out your car is stolen before it is stripped or the battery is disconnected.
But if he just used Schlitz the effect would be the same and it would be perfectly legal!
personal attacks hurt, especially when deserved
If GEICO, Allstate and a few other biggies were smart, they'd foot the bills to equip various police departments of large metropolitan areas.
For example, here in the D.C. area, it might be cheaper for said insurance companies to help equip the Montgomery & PG county police on the MD side, rather than have to reimburse owners for stolen Lexus', Hondas and Toyotas (even though they rarely, if ever give you the full value).
It might also save them the costs of having to repair stolen vehicles that are recovered.
healyourchurchwebsite.com - WWJB?
It is true that by using this car-bait technique the police will effectively rid the cities of criminals (at least car thieves, but there is no reason this principle could not be used to catch other criminals, such as gamblers and pedophiles). In this way, we achieve the ultimate protection. As one reply said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Likewise, the best defense is a good offense, and we should nip these kinds of activities in the bud.
I do no longer mind funding for as many of these sneaky cars as is necessary to finally clean up the streets of America. My one request is that they be utilized only in areas which have a surplus of parking, and that they not be driven during rush hours. Traffic affects us all in more ways than one.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
For saying "Sweet!". Don't feel bad. The guy who said "It's all good" got a boot to the crotch!
**>>BELCH
They even mention Minneapolis as the place where they got the idea. You do have to read past the first page to see that, though.
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
if they would put the gang bangers who involve innocents in "drive bys" straight to the chair, we will be in good shape. This is a good thing...Less tolerance and smarter tactics for taking down the slugs of the world. Score 1 for the good guys.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
I park for half an hour at Auburn University's student health clinic in the "A" zone and still get a ticket even though I'm getting an antibiotic shot in the butt....it takes them three years and threats of legal action, even with copies of the receipts, to get the stupid ticket and charge revoked.
What is your Slash Rating?
The guy designing the device is not the one stealing the cars. He's the one selling the device to the people stealing the cars, probably for (pulls percentage out of a random orifice) 20% of whatever the car brings in. I would say that's more lucrative than the average widget design position.
Actually, if its supplementing a widget design position, its even better for the designer dude, right up until Tony breaks his legs.
Is this post not nifty? Sluggy Freelance. Worshi
Though it does bug me that speed limits are kept low through the efforts of insurance lobbyists. It's not for the sake of safety, it's been shown that the speed limit doesn't make a big difference in accident rates, in fact in some cases the raising the speed limit has resulted in less accidents. Nor am I happy that the same rules apply to different classes of vehicles. On a motorcycle I am much safer at high speeds than a car, and vice versa in an SUV. It's basically an artificial way to create a crime to generate revenue.
If they want to do that fine, but how about this, allow a high speed license, you can still limit it , but set it higher for those that took the advanced driving course, renew their license every year, and pay extra for the privilege. Then you get my money every year, regardless of whether or not I get caught, plus you can still nail people who are speeding without the license. It's a pipe dream I know, but it's mine ;)
Anyway what I was trying to point out your taxes aren't earmarked for any particular thing than mine are. You can say how much of my our money goes to specific things. If the government had to keep that kind of accounting they'd have to triple taxes just to afford to do that much more work. Besides the fact that if you divvied it up, you'd probably find that a miniscule percentage of you money goes toward any one particular thing. Personally there's a lot of things that my taxes pay for that I don't like, I get raped while people with kids get a break, I get raped because I make too much money to write off my tuition, welfare, ect. But the amount of money I pay probably is well short of the amount needed to fund those things that I do want, national defense, FDIC, ect. Same as everyone else.
I'm the big fish in the big pond bitch.
Have you tried the Mormon Bike Protection Plan, one very long chain and a big old lock. I grew up in Jamaica where they regularly did their rounds. what was funny was how paranoid they were. They would at each stop even if the were standing there chain their bikes to the the biggest heaviest thing that was cemented in the pavement
Course besides being illegal, think about it. How many times to people space out and open their cars before turning the alarm off by accident? Just takes one little slip up and you get caught in your own trap. Ouch! :)
Contrary to popular belief, coding is not all free blow-jobs and beer. Those things cost MONEY!
http://www.boomerangtracking.com
Because of this system many car thiefs in the Montreal area are working differently. Now they steal a car and will leave it in a public parking for a day or two. If the car is still there, i.e. the police did not pick it up, then they will steal it for good.
Well, considering the post above you mentions 'blatant violation of privacy', i'd say that they thought of it before you thought of them thinking about it.
;)
Are you thinking of entrapment , "A person is 'entrapped' when he is induced or persuaded by law enforcement officers or their agents to commit a crime that he had no previous intent to commit."
or... unreasonable detention (this is probably what you are thinking)
or trapping?-- As in do the police officers lock him in, skin him, scraping the skin to remove fat and flesh, wash it, and treat him with a series of chemicals that soften and preserve, or tan, the skin?
El Karma: excelente(principalmente la suma de moderación hecha a los comentarios de los usuarios)
My friend told me about a similar car (a Honda Accord) owned by the Ventura County Sheriff that would stall, lock all the doors, roll up the windows and call the police a few blocks from whereever it was stolen.
In most Southern California towns it lasted about two hours before someone came by and drove off.
In his town, after two weeks of sitting at the side of the road, unlocked, with the keys in the ignition, it still hadn't been stolen. OTOH, this was in Simi Valley, a town (and I am not making this up) that has a Denny's that closes. Every night.
My friend took this as an omen and a few months later decided to move.
rtstyk writes:
This has already come to pass. One reason for the surge in carjackings was that more and more cars have factory installed alarms and anti-theft systems that prevent quick hot-wiring of unattended vehicles. It's a big jump from stealing an unattended car while the owner is gone to armed robbery.To quote RazzleFrog (http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=31300&cid=336 7016):
I do not deploy Linux. Ever.
You're not detecting the "GPS signal" so much as spurious emissions generated by the receiver's electronics. Most likely, sufficient shielding could be implemented to contain these.
Of course, delaying turn-on of the GPS until the car moves would probably be a lot simpler.
I can picture it now, a scantly dressed 10 year old sitting on a craps table in Time Square asking passerbys to "come play"
"they also had the technology to disable the vehicle -- stopping it in its tracks."
That is dangeorus. It could cause an accident involving innocent people in other vehicles. I hope they use it only when the police have the vehicle in sight and can control the disabling precisely. If they have to relay a message over the radio to a central location to get somebody there to send a signal back to the car, that's too much lag time. The situation could have changed from a safe time to disable the vehicle (traveling slowly, nobody nearby) to a fatal time (entering highway).
I want to see a web site with a rendered map of the city. Then, I want to see a red pulsing dot that is the stolen car. Then blue dots representing the police, chasing said car. Maybe, as the police get closer, it could speed up the music that plays too. Perhaps a selection from the "Looney Tunes" library would be apropos... This could revolutionize the media coverage of high speed chases! Imagine the revenue possibilities in L.A. alone!
/. community by mentioning "revenue"? ;) )
(Oh, wait... Did I just offend the
"Goodness, how did you people live long enough to invent tools?" -Hobbes (the tiger, not the philosopher)
Some people also use them as "detection" or early warning devices, e.g. the low-hanging fruit idea: if you have a vulnerable system amongst several real production systems, hopefully the honeypot will get compromised and you'll be able to detect the intruder before he gets to the real targets. Interesting to see the same thing done here...
"You can never have too many elephants on your team."
Hardly true. To my thinking it doesn't matter if the door was unlocked. When was the last time you went over to some random car and tested the door to see if it was unlocked. I can say I've *never* done that to a car I or someone I was with didn't own. To my way of thinking, you could leave a ferrari, doors open, windows down, keys in the ignition, cash 3 inches deep on the floor and the Hope diamond sitting on the passenger seat and you're *still* a thief if you steal it and it's *still* not entrapment if you do. No one's encouraging you to steal that several million dollar pile of someone else's property. You would have been quite willing to do it on your own. Now if a police officer offered to pay you to steal the car for him, or suggested you should for your own benefit, that's entrapment. If its entirely of your own volition, enjoy the cell.
Here's an example that happened to me. I was working for a dotcom, and we had a discounted employee stock purchase plan. To participate, we had to sign up through a broker who seemed (to me) incredibly incompetent if not corrupt. But it was use them or don't participate, and since I was only investing a very token amount, I crossed out all the dubious clauses in their contract, and signed up.
Two or three months later I got an account statement that showed me with a balance of $140,000 of stock in a company that I'd never heard of, plus the tiny amount of stock in my own company. I called the broker and left a message that there was a mistake in my stock statement. They never called me back.
A week later, the brokerage was bought out by another company, and all the accounts were transferred. Three weeks after that, my company switched to yet another brokerage after we got acquired, and the account was transferred again.
Throughout all of these changes, all that fully vested stock that I was not entitled to remained in my account. It had a beautiful 52-week graph too, unlike my own company's stock. And I had *tried* to do the right thing.
It was incredibly tempting. I could buy a house. Quit my job and go back to college. Or just leave it there for five years, ten years, and see if anyone ever noticed. After all, the stock had stayed with me through three brokerages. And the first brokerage were idiots, there was probably no trail.
In the end, I couldn't do it. I am very risk averse, and the original broker had always struck me as crooked. I had a half-formed worry that they were using my account as part of some complicated scam, hoping I'd go along with it a la Nigerian money-transfer schemes. I finally took to calling them up saying "There's $150,000 of stock in my account that doesn't belong to me! (its value had gone up by then) It must belong to a different customer! Take it out."
They never even thanked me.
I resisted, but it physically *hurt* to get my statement every month, and a lot of my friends told me I was being stupid to keep trying to give it back. If it would not have tempted you too, you're not human.
Doing my part to piss off the religious right.
I guess I'll have to check to make sure the next car I still isn't emitting any oddball signals. This will be about as effective as the club.
I had my car stolen from me once. When you work your ass off to pay for and maintain a vehicle, you feel totally violated to have some piece of shit come along and take it from you. My car was everything I owned, everything I had worked toward... then some son of a bitch stole it.
I have no mercy for those assholes.
Why are you letting these clowns ruin our country?
Amateur radio has lots of digital modes you could use to have your car send you a radio "instant message" when it thinks it's being stolen. Connect a GPS receiver to it, use something like APRS, and you can have it broadcasting its position to you digitally. You could even rig a "kill switch" function into an APRS message, so long as you don't mind the fact that any other amateur radio operator can send the same message. (Encryption is a no-no.)
For those of you interested in doing something similar with your car, consider getting yourself an amateur radio license, buy some hardware, and have your car broadcast its position. Do a net search for "APRS car" for information, or check out http://web.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/aprs.html. I might recommend the Kenwood TH-D7AG radio, which has most all of the functionality you would want in a hand-held package.
I thought the Upstanding Citizen thing to do was to take it and turn it in to the Police Lost & Found??
Can the street cleaners pick it up, or is it just supposed to sit there until it rots from exposure?
To be less glib, I guess the distinction is the "for your own use" part. It seems like you could always claim you were on your way to the police with it though.
Entrapment is the police GET you to do a crime and then charge you for it. The kind of crime you would not have committed were it not for their interference.
Parking a car in an area known for car theft and waiting for it to be stolen is not entrapment, it's fishing. I believe as long as they can show the crime would have happened anyway.
Going undercover, going up to a street kid and telling him there is a car 2 blocks over with the keys in the ignition, THAT is entrapment.
" It is a legal requirement that pre-installed operating systems remain with a machine for the life of the machine. " where did they come up with that legal requirement. even if it is a contractual requirement it is not a legal one, and a school is not bound by a contract between microsoft and some other random pc donator.
Nice strawman jackass. I never claimed any such thing, or anything remotely related to it. I claimed car thieves rarely do time - and that set you off. The mere implication that car thieves (whether they steal one car or many) should in some way be pusished has set you off in a frency.
Again, a strawman. I never said we shouldn't treat them as humans. But what the fuck do you think we should do? Car theives, whether opportunistic or otherwise, are a huge burden on society. When someone steals my car, it costs me dearly in time and money. It costs everyone money by driving up insurance rates that everyone must pay. What do you propose we do with car thieves? Give them counseling? Because that's about all we do now, and it isn't helping.
And I seriously don't understand how anyone can defend a criminal by saying the crime is opportunistic. All crime is opportunistic. All of life is opportunistic. A person will weigh the risks and rewards everytime the decision to steal a car comes up. Guess what? The rewards are good, and the risks are slim.
Lots of murder is opportunistic, should we not pushish that, you big sensitive idiot?
I just drove home, and I couldn't believe the number of carrots parked along the side of the road. Poor, criminals, all that enticement - what the hell are they supposed to do?
HAND
XML causes global warming.
This is sounding better and better. If lots of cars is already going to mean there need to be lots of bait cars, then the bait cars should help out with some of the traffic problem. Why don't they double as taxis? This would help offset the cost to taxpayers, and give the average working stiff a break.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
I guess I don't understand why the vast majority of the posts I am reading here are long the lines of: "Cool, using technology to nab the bad guys!"
However, I would wager if this were a story about red light cameras catching those who ran red lights, or underpass speed detectors catching speeders and mailing them a ticket, you'd be decrying it as an invasion of privacy or whatnot.
I guess I fail to see the difference, other than in the former case you're not the bad guy and in the latter you might be.
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
Too bad that there's no place to lock these people up since all our prison space is taken up with tough, career criminals like pot-smokers and ecstasy users.
Prevent email address forgery. Publish SPF records for y
MURS is license-free and content unrestricted. You can even use encryption.
They tried this but the CD player broke due to licensing issues.
Take a GPS jammer with you when you go car-jacking.
Might want to take a spread-spectrum radio jammer too, but it might be possible to track that down. But with a full-spectrum jammer, you don't have to worry about the kill switch either.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
When the "remote kill switch" is mandated in all new cars sold, it will not longer be "worthwhile technology".
The comment about "entrapment" wouldn't be so laughable if theives hadn't already tried, and I believe succeeded, in using the fact that the homeowner had a "Welcome" mat as a defense. "They invited me in!"
Lastly, on the stacking of charges, just what is a "theft tool"? ViceGrips? Hammer? Screwdriver?
Which begs the question, what are "hacking tools"? Keyboard? ADSL?
Prosecutor: Your honor, the defendant is guilty of 27 counts of having been in posession of criminal tools: Books.
The Ludwig von Mises Institute. The reasoning individuals economics
Ah, ok. I see the point now.
But insurance numbers are based on more than theft. You're also paying for those other things I mentioned like accident rates, mortality rates, average repair costs, etc. More people driving a model statistically means more accidents and higher payouts.
Like I said before, if a Camry costs the insurance company more to insure, you'll pay higher premiums. Period. Everyone should check out what a car's insurance cost is before buying - it's just like mileage and resale value.
Slashdot comments... splitting hairs since 1997.
If you fail to secure your property, it is no longer your property. Simple as that.
How we know is more important than what we know.
The point here is acting like civilized, responsible people. Lots of people, including me, would see a nice car or something valuable inside and think, "Wow, I wish that were mine!" Society works much better if we suborn the greed to a common agreement to respect each other's property no matter how strong the greed initiated compulsion may be. I should also admit to a strong ethical bias here. I believe theft is just "wrong", as is rape, so I'm not going to do it regardless of the source of the desire to do so, pile of cash or strip-tease notwithstanding.
How, exactly, do you "protect" without catching criminals? You ignore them, instead?
In this case, it's pretty safe to assume that someone who steals the bait car has stolen cars before. But this is not always the case when police bait for crimes. Say a cop approaches someone who has never bought drugs in his life, and offers him some. If the sale is made, that cop has just created a criminal for the purpose of busting him.
You are also grouping humanity into two categories: "criminals" and "non-criminals". I assume you classify yourself as a non-criminal. Yet the world isn't this black and white. Ever coasted through a stop sign? Ever bought a used car and declared less than it's value when paying the tax? We have all done _something_ that's against the law. So when you say the police's job is to go out and "catch criminals" you may be asking for them to catch you, too.
What on earth does victimless crimes have to do with catching car thieves? Car theft is not a victimless crime, it's one of the most serious non-violent crimes you can commmit, and for a good reason.
Stealing a dummy car whose only purpose is to get stolen, is a victimless crime.
Oh, and, BTW, another job of the police is to deter crime, which this does nicely.
I'm not arguing that. I agree that another job of the police is to deter crime, and these bait cars certainly do. But I'm against the method of deterring crime, when that method involves staging crimes for the sake of busting them.
A GPS jammer would only need to block, or confuse, the signals from getting into the car. It wouldn't need to be that powerfull.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
It is not illegal to carry, or use a GPS on aircraft in the U.S. as a passenger.
Period.
It may be against the Airlines policy, or the Pilot (who gets last say).
please search google/groups for GPS and airline, you'll find the discussion comes up a lot in sci.geo.satellite-nav
Anytime someone says it is by FAA regulations request a regulation number. There isn't one.
There is one for the guildines airlines may use to allow, or disallow such devices
rob.... what's the story? that's 2 comments in a row where you've been modded down. you must be losing your touch.
hint: anything vaguely condescending of the US gets modded down.. i mean how dare you suggest America doesnt have good criminals.
:)
I use Friend/Foe + mod-point modifiers as a karma/reputation system.
I hope not! I've got a refund coming!