4 ms·

Its a good idea. I'm surprised there aren't trackers on all cars already, like a 21st century license plate. I thought toll passes would do this, but looking at

by rr808 3y ago

Its a good idea. I'm surprised there aren't trackers on all cars already, like a 21st century license plate. I thought toll passes would do this, but looking at the size of the sensors over interstates it isn't so easy.

cebert 3y ago
I work in the public safety domain. You don’t even need a tracker on vehicles. There are several camera startups in this space, such as Flock Safety, which can scan for plates and particular vehicle descriptions and alert law enforcement. These devices are more common than you’d think. Agencies can also enter data sharing agreements. I work on the consuming end of data from systems like this. [1]https://www.flocksafety.com/ https://www.flocksafety.com/ [2]https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2024/02/27/flock-safety-surveillance-broke-state-law/?sh=2f238f202a8f https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2024/02/27/flock...
- lettergram 3y ago
  I was just talking to a coworker about this. Imo it should be illegal, but what ever I guess haha Basically, no need for a warrant any more. As long as it’s “in view of the public” they can track you entirely. Champaign IL set these up on almost every intersection.
  - noduerme 3y ago
    Massively gathered warrantless spying on the genpop should be illegal ...when it comes to tracking car license plates? I mean, compared to facial recognition and cell phone tracking, it seems quaint.
- linkjuice4all 3y ago
  Is there an option for the public/non-law enforcement to access or pay to get this data? I know we're not getting the toothpaste back in the tube so we (the general public) might as well get some benefit from it. There are a lot of government officials driving around doing non-sensitive/non-law enforcement work so they should have no expectation of privacy and no qualified immunity or some other exception related to active investigations. This seems like a great way to ensure accountability of our representatives - if they'll let us.
  - tjpnz 3y ago
    A la Elon Jet but for the vehicles of publicly elected officials? I think we should have the right to keep tabs on them given how prone they are to misbehaving.
TimeBearingDown 3y ago
The NY Civil Liberties Union did find that toll passes are scanned far from actual toll roads. It appears to be used explicitly for surveillance purposes. Stick to cash or bill-by-mail, or connect your reader’s battery with a thumb when you need to use it. https://www.nyclu.org/en/e-zpass-readers https://www.nyclu.org/en/e-zpass-readers
- AdamJacobMuller 3y ago
  I just leave mine off entirely. When it fails to scan, they do ALPR to figure out who to send the ticket to, but, before they send a ticket they lookup against the EZPass database to see if your car is in it, and if so, they just debit your account like the tag did scan. If that happens often enough, they send you a new tag and ask for the broken one back. Oddly I keep getting defective tags.
  - rrr_oh_man 3y ago
    I like you.
    - AdamJacobMuller 3y ago
      Thank you. I like you too.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
SirAllCaps 3y ago
> I'm surprised there aren't trackers on all cars already, like a 21st century license plate. Are you referring to a state or government tracker on every vehicle? If so, it seems like you're implying that's a good idea. If that's the case, I hope there's some joke in here I'm missing.
- nixgeek 3y ago
  License plate readers (LPR) are common in cities and on motorways in UK; there are “Average Speed” zones where the LPR is accomplished by cameras mounted on overhead gantries spanning miles. Speeding tickets can be issued automatically if you break the speed limit between gantries. It’s always been weird to me the US doesn’t do this and often requires a trooper to pull you over and give you a written ticket. Note that not all motorways have this in UK, but those which do, you don’t see anywhere near as much excessive speed. LPR is also used in UK by the Driver and Vehicle License Agency (DVLA) to oversee taxation of vehicles. No more “tabs” or license discs to display in your front window, it’s all LPR these days. LPR databases are queryable by the security services and law enforcement — there are enough cameras in cities your location can be pinned down to “within a few streets”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_number-plate_recognition_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_number-plate_recogni... This isn’t a tracker on every vehicle but it’s pretty equivalent for drivers who don’t live in the middle of nowhere where LPR may only be deployed in major towns.
  - CSMastermind 3y ago
    It sounds frankly dystopian, and I hope that this never comes to my country. The government has no business tracking the movements of its citizens outside of an active criminal investigation and only then within well defined paramaters.
    - afavour 3y ago
      It does feel like a very stereotypically American view to be absolutely aghast at the idea of the government tracking the location of cars while being entirely permissive of private companies doing the same and reselling that data to anyone and everyone that wants it (including the government, ironically)

by rr808 3y ago

cebert 3y ago

I work in the public safety domain. You don’t even need a tracker on vehicles. There are several camera startups in this space, such as Flock Safety, which can scan for plates and particular vehicle descriptions and alert law enforcement. These devices are more common than you’d think. Agencies can also enter data sharing agreements. I work on the consuming end of data from systems like this. [1]https://www.flocksafety.com/ https://www.flocksafety.com/ [2]https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2024/02/27/flock-safety-surveillance-broke-state-law/?sh=2f238f202a8f https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2024/02/27/flock...

lettergram 3y ago
I was just talking to a coworker about this. Imo it should be illegal, but what ever I guess haha Basically, no need for a warrant any more. As long as it’s “in view of the public” they can track you entirely. Champaign IL set these up on almost every intersection.
- noduerme 3y ago
  Massively gathered warrantless spying on the genpop should be illegal ...when it comes to tracking car license plates? I mean, compared to facial recognition and cell phone tracking, it seems quaint.
linkjuice4all 3y ago
Is there an option for the public/non-law enforcement to access or pay to get this data? I know we're not getting the toothpaste back in the tube so we (the general public) might as well get some benefit from it. There are a lot of government officials driving around doing non-sensitive/non-law enforcement work so they should have no expectation of privacy and no qualified immunity or some other exception related to active investigations. This seems like a great way to ensure accountability of our representatives - if they'll let us.
- tjpnz 3y ago
  A la Elon Jet but for the vehicles of publicly elected officials? I think we should have the right to keep tabs on them given how prone they are to misbehaving.

TimeBearingDown 3y ago

The NY Civil Liberties Union did find that toll passes are scanned far from actual toll roads. It appears to be used explicitly for surveillance purposes. Stick to cash or bill-by-mail, or connect your reader’s battery with a thumb when you need to use it. https://www.nyclu.org/en/e-zpass-readers https://www.nyclu.org/en/e-zpass-readers

AdamJacobMuller 3y ago
I just leave mine off entirely. When it fails to scan, they do ALPR to figure out who to send the ticket to, but, before they send a ticket they lookup against the EZPass database to see if your car is in it, and if so, they just debit your account like the tag did scan. If that happens often enough, they send you a new tag and ask for the broken one back. Oddly I keep getting defective tags.
- rrr_oh_man 3y ago
  I like you.
  - AdamJacobMuller 3y ago
    Thank you. I like you too.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

SirAllCaps 3y ago

> I'm surprised there aren't trackers on all cars already, like a 21st century license plate. Are you referring to a state or government tracker on every vehicle? If so, it seems like you're implying that's a good idea. If that's the case, I hope there's some joke in here I'm missing.

nixgeek 3y ago
License plate readers (LPR) are common in cities and on motorways in UK; there are “Average Speed” zones where the LPR is accomplished by cameras mounted on overhead gantries spanning miles. Speeding tickets can be issued automatically if you break the speed limit between gantries. It’s always been weird to me the US doesn’t do this and often requires a trooper to pull you over and give you a written ticket. Note that not all motorways have this in UK, but those which do, you don’t see anywhere near as much excessive speed. LPR is also used in UK by the Driver and Vehicle License Agency (DVLA) to oversee taxation of vehicles. No more “tabs” or license discs to display in your front window, it’s all LPR these days. LPR databases are queryable by the security services and law enforcement — there are enough cameras in cities your location can be pinned down to “within a few streets”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_number-plate_recognition_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_number-plate_recogni... This isn’t a tracker on every vehicle but it’s pretty equivalent for drivers who don’t live in the middle of nowhere where LPR may only be deployed in major towns.
- CSMastermind 3y ago
  It sounds frankly dystopian, and I hope that this never comes to my country. The government has no business tracking the movements of its citizens outside of an active criminal investigation and only then within well defined paramaters.
  - afavour 3y ago
    It does feel like a very stereotypically American view to be absolutely aghast at the idea of the government tracking the location of cars while being entirely permissive of private companies doing the same and reselling that data to anyone and everyone that wants it (including the government, ironically)