Slashdot Mirror
"Mobile Plate Hunter" Cameras Raise Questions
The Washington Post has a story on "Minority Report"-style license-plate scanners that mount on police cars. They are the size of softballs, cost $25K, and can scan and run thousands of plates a day through the local Motor Vehicle Administration database. The easy mission creep these devices encourage is summarized in the article: "Initially purchased to find stolen cars, a handful of so-called tag readers are in use across the Washington region to catch not just car thieves, but also drivers who neglected or failed their emissions inspections or let their insurance policies lapse. The District and Prince George's County use them to enforce parking rules... 'I just think it makes us a lot more effective and a lot more efficient in how our time is being used,' [a senior detective] said." The article doesn't mention what happens to the data on legal plates. Suppose the DHS decides it wants a permanent archive of who was where, when?
How about the "Mobile Revenue Generator"?
Steven Wright mentioned accidentally putting his car key in the door to his apartment.
Turned the key.
Whole building started up.
So he drove it around for a while.
Cop pulled him over, asked "Where do you live?"
He said "Right here".
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
He's from Arkansas.