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RFID License Plates in the UK

Posted by michael on from the ubiquitous-surveillance dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The UK Government is studying license plates with embedded RFID tags. The plates can be read from 300 feet away and in rapid succession by readers embedded in the road or by 'surveillance vehicles.'"

6 of 550 comments (clear)

  1. Before by swordboy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Before you get your panties in a knot, please note that modern license plates were originally designed so that they could be OCR'ed. They currently use this at the borders here in the US.

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    Life is the leading cause of death in America.
  2. Here's a video and more info by swordboy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's a related video showing the RFID capability now installed into tires. Note that the manufacturer is programming the VIN number into the tires. It is only a matter of time before you will not be able to get tires installed without them programming the VIN number.

    More infor here.

    --

    Life is the leading cause of death in America.
  3. Re:Privacy? by DangerSteel · · Score: 3, Informative
    Your plate number is not private, at least not in the US. I am ignorant about whether it is on the other side of the pond. In the US it is public information and the information can be requested, for a small fee usually.

    What would one do with your tag number anyway? Would you expect someone to get a car that is your make and color, fake a plate with your number on it to commit a crime with it? Man that's way too much TV talking...

  4. For those of us not from the UK by pragma_x · · Score: 3, Informative

    I didn't have a clue what the poster was talking about (Congestion Charge)... so I asked google:

    http://www.cclondon.com/whatis.shtml

    Suddenly, this RFID buisness doesn't seem so bad in comparison to what Londoners are already going through.

  5. Re:Privacy? by mikael · · Score: 3, Informative

    What would one do with your tag number anyway? Would you expect someone to get a car that is your make and color, fake a plate with your number on it to commit a crime with it? Man that's way too much TV talking...

    To get around the congestion charging fee in London, people having been using fake number plates. Saving five pounds a day is a good incentive to do so.

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    Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
  6. Re:One has wonder by phreakyb0y · · Score: 3, Informative
    Woah! i'm not sure which country you are living in but it sure isn't britian - the public transport in this country is a joke! i don't live in london but i have had the misfortune of going there many times - both using public transport and my own car - and while my car may take fractionally longer (due to traffic jams) i would use the car anyday. the trains are dirty, uncomfortable, crowded and always late not to mention very expensive

    don't even get me started on the shit holes that pass as buses!

    i have every right to drive a car - it is a perfectly valid form of transport - it gets me from a to b, its comfortable, reliable, there aren't any drunk morons talking way too loudly for the whole journey (well not in my car anyway) and it used to be reasonably cheap.

    but labour has taxed the motorsit to death scince they got into power under the pretense of protecting the envrionment. it is an outrage. i wouldn't mind if ANY of that tax actually made public transport usable but it doesn't. they seem to tax and tax and tax and etc... but never do the trains get any better, never do the buses run on time, and the roads are probably the worst in the western world

    pah! this is just another way for the govenment to get money out of us - it has nothing to do with the envrionment at all, as proved by the fact that despite the taxes the level of traffic on the roads has increased a lot scince labour got into power, taxes will not clean up the envrionment and neither will getting people to use public transport - cus buses and trains still (at some point) burn fossil fuels