4 ms·

License Plate Readers Are Creating a US-Wide Database of More Than Just Cars

61 points by walterbell 2y ago

potato3732842 2y ago
https://archive.is/L5MmU https://archive.is/L5MmU
onetokeoverthe 2y ago
Reflective plate covering and oops sorry officer I didnt know.
- hnburnsy 2y ago
  Doesn't matter they will still track you with BT or TPMS.
  - onetokeoverthe 2y ago
    + there are cars without these tools for fools. and hackers who share how to disable them.
    - Scoundreller 2y ago
      + broadcast someone else’s
- genter 2y ago
  You're piloting 4000 lbs+ down the road at speeds way faster than humans evolved to do so. You need to take responsibility for your actions, and part of that is being identifiable. But I'm just salty because my car was totaled by a woman with expired tags and no insurance, and the police response was "sorry".
  - foxyv 2y ago
    I bought uninsured motorist coverage recently. 1 in 5 drivers are uninsured. You can bet they are uninsured because of things like a suspended license or way too many accidents. I would estimate that roughly half of the accidents in the state of Texas involve at least one uninsured motorist. In addition, minimum coverage is like $30k. This would barely cover medical bills for one person. Much less more than one. It also makes the claims process way better. You get paid right away to fix your stuff instead of playing games with someone else's horrible fly by night insurance company.
pards 2y ago
> which are now photographing political lawn signs outside private homes, individuals wearing T-shirts with text, and vehicles displaying pro-abortion bumper stickers—all while recording the precise locations of these observations. I could see datasets containing this information being weaponized while simultaneously discouraging public discourse. Very Orwellian.
- blitzar 2y ago
  If people dont want to know which candidate they support or their position on the bumper sticker topic de jour then they should not advertise them. I can not fathom turning my house / car / body into a walking advertiment and them being upset that people notice.
  - potato3732842 2y ago
    There's a qualitative difference between the people around you knowing and some fedcop thousands of miles away being able to punch your name into a system that's integrated with another system and know your leanings going back X years.
    - MR4D 2y ago
      A lot of voters actually sign a piece of paper to do exactly that. It’s called registering as a Republican or Democrat. Many states have rules on who is allowed to vote in which primaries based on that same information. But perhaps I am missing you point?
      - potato3732842 2y ago
        Party registration is uninteresting at scale as it just determines whether someone is the left or right half of the bell curve. It doesn't tell you if they're in the fat part or the long tail or what issues they care deeply about. The feds are very interested in cataloging who does and doesn't have extremist views (the long tail). Militant commies, 3%ers, stuff like that. And once some bit of iconography is identified they can run a historical search to see who had it before it went mainstream enough for the feds to pick up on it. While it's fashionable to denigrate extremists pretty much every useful and/or positive political movement starts out there at some point.
gs17 2y ago
Even if they stick to just plates, they're still abused: https://www.kwch.com/2022/10/31/kechi-police-lieutenant-arrested-using-police-technology-stalk-wife/ https://www.kwch.com/2022/10/31/kechi-police-lieutenant-arre... I can only imagine it getting worse the more data they can grab.
- FireBeyond 2y ago
  > Private investigator Joseph Schillaci says while this situation needs to be addressed, he doesn’t see this situation being a common theme in police departments. Schillaci says public safety isn’t a concern. Hand-waved away. I wonder if Schillaci is an ex-cop. Also weird in this article is multiple quotes from people who are unrelated to the case and openly just guessing at the details: > "I don’t know how they’re charging with stalking," said O’Hara. "I don’t know the specifics of any of this we are just kind of guessing..." But this has always been a problem. My father worked in Australia for what would be something similar to the Marshals Service, and even 25 years ago this was an issue - one of his coworkers was reprimanded after a completely unrelated incident discovered that he'd routinely look people up via license plate information, including a young woman who'd just won a car in a lottery (and was pictured with said car with an uncensored plate).
Teever 2y ago
When are we going to start seeing a database of the details of the people who collect this kind of data and build these kinds of databases? I'd like to know more about the people who do these things and what motivates them.
mgoetzke 2y ago
Which is exactly why EU has data protection rights. At least they try, even if quite unsuccessfully and without the right long term plan

61 points by walterbell 2y ago

potato3732842 2y ago

https://archive.is/L5MmU https://archive.is/L5MmU

onetokeoverthe 2y ago

Reflective plate covering and oops sorry officer I didnt know.

hnburnsy 2y ago
Doesn't matter they will still track you with BT or TPMS.
- onetokeoverthe 2y ago
  + there are cars without these tools for fools. and hackers who share how to disable them.
  - Scoundreller 2y ago
    + broadcast someone else’s
genter 2y ago
You're piloting 4000 lbs+ down the road at speeds way faster than humans evolved to do so. You need to take responsibility for your actions, and part of that is being identifiable. But I'm just salty because my car was totaled by a woman with expired tags and no insurance, and the police response was "sorry".
- foxyv 2y ago
  I bought uninsured motorist coverage recently. 1 in 5 drivers are uninsured. You can bet they are uninsured because of things like a suspended license or way too many accidents. I would estimate that roughly half of the accidents in the state of Texas involve at least one uninsured motorist. In addition, minimum coverage is like $30k. This would barely cover medical bills for one person. Much less more than one. It also makes the claims process way better. You get paid right away to fix your stuff instead of playing games with someone else's horrible fly by night insurance company.

pards 2y ago

> which are now photographing political lawn signs outside private homes, individuals wearing T-shirts with text, and vehicles displaying pro-abortion bumper stickers—all while recording the precise locations of these observations. I could see datasets containing this information being weaponized while simultaneously discouraging public discourse. Very Orwellian.

blitzar 2y ago
If people dont want to know which candidate they support or their position on the bumper sticker topic de jour then they should not advertise them. I can not fathom turning my house / car / body into a walking advertiment and them being upset that people notice.
- potato3732842 2y ago
  There's a qualitative difference between the people around you knowing and some fedcop thousands of miles away being able to punch your name into a system that's integrated with another system and know your leanings going back X years.
  - MR4D 2y ago
    A lot of voters actually sign a piece of paper to do exactly that. It’s called registering as a Republican or Democrat. Many states have rules on who is allowed to vote in which primaries based on that same information. But perhaps I am missing you point?
    - potato3732842 2y ago
      Party registration is uninteresting at scale as it just determines whether someone is the left or right half of the bell curve. It doesn't tell you if they're in the fat part or the long tail or what issues they care deeply about. The feds are very interested in cataloging who does and doesn't have extremist views (the long tail). Militant commies, 3%ers, stuff like that. And once some bit of iconography is identified they can run a historical search to see who had it before it went mainstream enough for the feds to pick up on it. While it's fashionable to denigrate extremists pretty much every useful and/or positive political movement starts out there at some point.

gs17 2y ago

Even if they stick to just plates, they're still abused: https://www.kwch.com/2022/10/31/kechi-police-lieutenant-arrested-using-police-technology-stalk-wife/ https://www.kwch.com/2022/10/31/kechi-police-lieutenant-arre... I can only imagine it getting worse the more data they can grab.

FireBeyond 2y ago
> Private investigator Joseph Schillaci says while this situation needs to be addressed, he doesn’t see this situation being a common theme in police departments. Schillaci says public safety isn’t a concern. Hand-waved away. I wonder if Schillaci is an ex-cop. Also weird in this article is multiple quotes from people who are unrelated to the case and openly just guessing at the details: > "I don’t know how they’re charging with stalking," said O’Hara. "I don’t know the specifics of any of this we are just kind of guessing..." But this has always been a problem. My father worked in Australia for what would be something similar to the Marshals Service, and even 25 years ago this was an issue - one of his coworkers was reprimanded after a completely unrelated incident discovered that he'd routinely look people up via license plate information, including a young woman who'd just won a car in a lottery (and was pictured with said car with an uncensored plate).

Teever 2y ago

When are we going to start seeing a database of the details of the people who collect this kind of data and build these kinds of databases? I'd like to know more about the people who do these things and what motivates them.

mgoetzke 2y ago

Which is exactly why EU has data protection rights. At least they try, even if quite unsuccessfully and without the right long term plan