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RFID License Plates in the UK
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.'"
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.
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
... because, at least in central London, all car number plates are OCR'ed for use in the Congestion Charge scheme; RFID would have less inaccuracies (like the Somerset farmer who got a demand for his 17mph tractor being 150 miles away in London).
James F.
...and speeding tickets in the mail. 'Nuff said.
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." - Hanlon's Razor
Now they'll know exactly how fast i was going! without using those arbitrary numbers those radar guns make.
Now all I need is a RFID tag stapled to my little buddy so the government can track how often i get it on with the wife. May come in handy for the future population controls and killing off all ppl over 30....
besides our cars are supposed to be just metaphorical extensions of our penises anyway right?
The future is so BRIGHT!
"If I were bound by all laws everywhere I'm sure I would have committed a capital crime somewhere."
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.
I live in some minor shitsville in the middle of the Netherlands and those goddamn speeding cameras are common around here. In fact, there are so many around here the provincial goverment has denied a request to place more cameras, due to the fact there are so many already. Heck, there's a 800m stretch of road with FOUR cameras. If you go 54 km/h for even a few dozen meters, you're bound to end up 28 euros poorer. Now before people will scream "safety" and "the law", I'd like to remind people this road could take 80km/h with ease, there are NO sidewalks adjacent to the road and no building for kids or disabled people.
This, coupled with the facts the dutch police has "prestation contracts" that state they will bring in a minimum amount of euros on fines and the fact the police only posts cameras and surveillance vehicles where profitable instead of logical really make me doubt wether the police is there for my security not for my money. I really don't want an RFID tag in my car so those greedy bastards can squeeze more money from me. What's next, are they going to tie the RFID tag into the onboard computers? A nice note reading "You were speeding, your front lights are too dim, you ran a traffic light three days ago and you're using the wrong diesel fuel.", along with a 150 euro bill? I just wish the goverment would stop lying to me and say "Yeah, we're doing it for the money." instead of this bullshit story about safety.
Hate me!
And when they tie your plate RFID to a silver Land Rover and you're driving a blue Ka, or they pull you over for faulty plates and see a bunch of wires hanging out of your boot to the plate, the Government is going to be able to track you much easier in your 6 X 10 prison cell.
But don't let me stop you from tampering with your plate.
Do you REALLY think they have the time and/or manpower to read every plate, and them crosscheck it with what color the car actually is?
That's what machines are for.
If this is RFID, it's eaasily jammable, as the RFID signal is quite weak.
As a matter of fact, I can't understand how these people are planning to read these things from 160 feet away. Maybe a directional antenna?
On the upside, perhaps these will soon be set up in an automated fashion at measured intervals in the United States. It will become impossible to speed over stretches of highway covered by these. Auto accidents still kill a tremendous number of people annually -- a lot more than "terrorists", whom we in the US have given up a lot more freedoms to combat (and spent more money on) than simply automated license plate reading.
May we never see th
FACT: Discarded auto tires contribute 1,243,918 tons of non-recyclable trash to US landfills every year.
FACT: In the United States and Canada in 2003, 87 children under the age of eighteen were seriously injured in accidents involving unregistered tire-swings 70% of which were suspended from unregistered trees.
FACT: In Europe, where private ownership of tire-mounting machines has long been prohibited, not one violent crime was committed with an unregistered tire-mounting machine in the last decade..
FACT: In 2003, 4,451 children below the age of 18 were killed or seriously wounded in accidents involving improperly-secured home tire-mounting machines.
FACT: In French Guiana, where the law forbids private ownership of radio frequencies, the wealth-gap between rich and poor is only 10% of that found in the United States, and studies have shown unequivocally that tires wear up to 40% longer.
FACT: In both Cuba and Canada, publicly-funded health care ensures that doctors can't afford large, heavy SUVs, resulting in significantly diminished levels of tire-related non-recyclable waste.
... I told you so (although that sentiment's probably redundant by now). RFID apologists defense of choice is that the readers only work at a distance of up to 18 inches, IIRC. Well these work up to 300 feet. Meaning that as soon as RFID is universally accepted, I just get my hands on one of these 300-foot-range scanners, and go driving through the suburbs looking for the house with the most stuff to rob... And yes, I did read the article, and yes, they are battery powered, but so what? Creating a very small battery to go along with the RFID chip is a technical problem that's very easily overcome, just like the 18 inches limitation was easily overcome when many here declared vociferously that said limitation would make RFID all cuddly and innocuous.
The point is that everybody who said that RFID will never have a range longer thatn 18 inches have already been proven wrong, even before RFID has even begun to be implemented. You pro-RFID folks care for some salt with that crow?
The real point of the matter is that NOBODY has a right to see what possessions I have in my house. Not a stranger/burglar on the street, not the government, NOBODY.
They will never stop until somebody makes the