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License Plate Tracking for the Average Citizen

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the i-spy-with-my-many-eyes dept.

Wired News is reporting that big-brother license plate tracking systems may soon be available to the average citizen. Privacy advocates, however, worry that personal information and associated movement could be used inappropriately by marketing companies. From the article: "Bucholz, who designed some of the first mobile license plate reading, or LPR, equipment, gave a presentation at the 2006 National Institute of Justice conference here last week laying out a vision of the future in which LPR does everything from helping insurance companies find missing cars to letting retail chains chart customer migrations. It could also let a nosy citizen with enough cash find out if the mayor is having an affair, he says."

9 of 340 comments (clear)

  1. Warning warning warning! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Your license plate number is currently being broadcast TO THE WORLD!

    Punch the monkey to find out how to protect yourself.

  2. Neat trick by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 4, Funny

    I had no idea LPR had such capabilities. Let's see HP JetDirect do this!

    Now if only someone can code an extension that will tell me where I left my car keys...

    --
    You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
    1. Re:Neat trick by dr_dank · · Score: 2, Funny

      Since tubes are in fashion thanks to Senator Ted Stevens, pipes are in this season. Get with the program, AC!

      --
      Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
  3. Re:Big brother here we come! by Jordan+Catalano · · Score: 4, Funny

    In other news, sales of IR-blocking plastic films skyrocket.

    Buy one, get a tin-foil hat free.

  4. Foot, meet bullet. by Tackhead · · Score: 3, Funny
    > "Bucholz, who designed some of the first mobile license plate reading, or LPR, equipment, gave a presentation at the 2006 National Institute of Justice conference here last week laying out a vision of the future in which LPR does everything from helping insurance companies find missing cars to letting retail chains chart customer migrations. It could also let a nosy citizen with enough cash find out if the mayor is having an affair, he says."

    CFO: You dumbass! The mayor is the guy who signs the check! You just terrified our entire customer base!
    Bucholz: ...b-but I said "with enough cash". It's not like just any citizen could use i-
    CFO: NO! Remember your mantra. "Citizen is to sheep as Mayor is to farmer." Nothing more. Nothing less. Go now. Do not speak to me again until you've meditated upon your mantra for another week.

  5. Captcha by bobthemuse · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sweet.... I wonder if I can have my plate # pressed similar to a captcha. Let them scan all they want....

  6. A Pity Google Didn't Come Up With This by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 2, Funny

    We'd be sitting here marvelling at their innovation and wondering how we ever lived without it.

  7. Re:Big brother here we come! by dr_dank · · Score: 5, Funny

    LPR cameras, which are usually around the size of a can of tomato sauce, can be mounted on police cruisers and powered by cigarette lighters

    With a mental image of a cop wielding a jar of Ragu while his partner shovels in Bic lighters to keep it going, I have hard time taking this seriously.

    --
    Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
  8. Go back to analogy school! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    What you meant to say is "Citizen is to mayor as sheep is to farmer."
    Citizen, while it may be like a sheep, has no relationship to sheep the way a sheep has a relationship with a farmer and a citizen has a relationship with a mayor. Unless you're referring to how citizens have been known to eat or fuck sheep, in which case you're saying the Mayor eats or fucks a farmer, which is just weird and irrelevant.