3 ms·

I am genuinely curious : why do people want to cover their plates while the car is parked ?

dave84 9y ago
First paragraph: >This simple privacy measure would create an opportunity for drivers to protect sensitive information about their travel and whereabouts from mass collection by law enforcement and private data brokers.
- on_and_off 9y ago
  I already read it :) But I still don't see how it works .. this info can still be collected while you are driving. And what kind of info are you worried private data brokers will get out of your parked car ?
  - dave84 9y ago
    Well, if we black mirror it up a bit you could be denied a mortgage because you regularly park outside a bookmakers.
    - on_and_off 9y ago
      Makes sense. I still have trouble getting the US mentality. I frequently mock the CNIL because of its overbearing decisions but AFAIK this kind of organism would prevent this kind of use of your personal data.
  - falcolas 9y ago
    "Why are my health insurance premiums going up?" "You regularly ski, an activity associated with a greater chance of injury." "You have been visiting a private clinic for months, which raises your risk of having a major health issue you have not yet disclosed to us." "You regularly eat at McDonalds, raising your long-term health care costs." Or... "Why has my auto insurance gone up?" "You are regularly at locations associated with illegal street racing." "You are regularly near after market parts stores, and after market parts are correlated with high risk drivers."
b6 9y ago
Well, police cars are driving around all the time. Tireless electronic eyes look out of the vehicle for plates, and records of every single one are made: timestamp, location, etc. The vast majority of the data collected is on people who are not suspected of any crime. But the data can be misused in innumerable ways. It would be easy to pick out patterns and then flag deviations, like the patterns show that this guy works from 8-5, but for some reason, his car was at a hotel from 1-3. On and on. There are lots of reasons to not want this kind of omniscient eye on us. My favorite is that a lot of laws are wrong, and people are violating the laws righteously, and they will be vindicated by public opinion someday, but it's going to take time for everyone to catch up. We don't want perfect police. There needs to be some slop so that we can see where the laws are wrong.
- Fnoord 9y ago
  The problem you describe is its part of mass surveillance, not targeted surveillance. I feel, even though we're not discussing text, the spirit of this quote is appropriate to mass surveillance post processing: "If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him." --Cardinal Richelieu. Discussion about authenticity e.g. here [1] [1] https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/23785/what-did-richelieu-mean-by-his-six-lines-quote https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/23785/what-did-r...
- jaclaz 9y ago
  >Well, police cars are driving around all the time. Tireless electronic eyes look out of the vehicle for plates, and records of every single one are made: timestamp, location, etc. The vast majority of the data collected is on people who are not suspected of any crime. But the data can be misused in innumerable ways. And - as a side note - whenever there is information stored (and poorly protected, i.e. "always") there is a good chance it will go in the hands of someone that is not the police or government. There is the known case of the Oakland Police ALPR, which data was initially available through public record request: http://records.oaklandnet.com/request/8562 http://records.oaklandnet.com/request/8562 Now the data is not "public record" anymore, but I wouldn't be surprised if - one way or the other - data harvesting companies would be able to get a copy.

First paragraph: >This simple privacy measure would create an opportunity for drivers to protect sensitive information about their travel and whereabouts from mass collection by law enforcement and private data brokers.

on_and_off 9y ago
I already read it :) But I still don't see how it works .. this info can still be collected while you are driving. And what kind of info are you worried private data brokers will get out of your parked car ?
- dave84 9y ago
  Well, if we black mirror it up a bit you could be denied a mortgage because you regularly park outside a bookmakers.
  - on_and_off 9y ago
    Makes sense. I still have trouble getting the US mentality. I frequently mock the CNIL because of its overbearing decisions but AFAIK this kind of organism would prevent this kind of use of your personal data.
- falcolas 9y ago
  "Why are my health insurance premiums going up?" "You regularly ski, an activity associated with a greater chance of injury." "You have been visiting a private clinic for months, which raises your risk of having a major health issue you have not yet disclosed to us." "You regularly eat at McDonalds, raising your long-term health care costs." Or... "Why has my auto insurance gone up?" "You are regularly at locations associated with illegal street racing." "You are regularly near after market parts stores, and after market parts are correlated with high risk drivers."

b6 9y ago

Well, police cars are driving around all the time. Tireless electronic eyes look out of the vehicle for plates, and records of every single one are made: timestamp, location, etc. The vast majority of the data collected is on people who are not suspected of any crime. But the data can be misused in innumerable ways. It would be easy to pick out patterns and then flag deviations, like the patterns show that this guy works from 8-5, but for some reason, his car was at a hotel from 1-3. On and on. There are lots of reasons to not want this kind of omniscient eye on us. My favorite is that a lot of laws are wrong, and people are violating the laws righteously, and they will be vindicated by public opinion someday, but it's going to take time for everyone to catch up. We don't want perfect police. There needs to be some slop so that we can see where the laws are wrong.

Fnoord 9y ago
The problem you describe is its part of mass surveillance, not targeted surveillance. I feel, even though we're not discussing text, the spirit of this quote is appropriate to mass surveillance post processing: "If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him." --Cardinal Richelieu. Discussion about authenticity e.g. here [1] [1] https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/23785/what-did-richelieu-mean-by-his-six-lines-quote https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/23785/what-did-r...
jaclaz 9y ago
>Well, police cars are driving around all the time. Tireless electronic eyes look out of the vehicle for plates, and records of every single one are made: timestamp, location, etc. The vast majority of the data collected is on people who are not suspected of any crime. But the data can be misused in innumerable ways. And - as a side note - whenever there is information stored (and poorly protected, i.e. "always") there is a good chance it will go in the hands of someone that is not the police or government. There is the known case of the Oakland Police ALPR, which data was initially available through public record request: http://records.oaklandnet.com/request/8562 http://records.oaklandnet.com/request/8562 Now the data is not "public record" anymore, but I wouldn't be surprised if - one way or the other - data harvesting companies would be able to get a copy.