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posted by martyb on Tuesday May 09 2017, @08:12AM   Printer-friendly
from the big-brother's-private-sector-sibling? dept.

If the Electronic Frontier Foundation and a San Diego-based Republican state senator have their way, it will soon become legal for Californians to cover their license plates while parked as a way to thwart automated license plate readers.

Those devices, now commonly in use by law enforcement nationwide, can capture license plate numbers at a very high rate of speed, as well as record the GPS location, date, and time that a particular plate is seen. Those plates are then run against a "hot list" of stolen or wanted cars, and a cop is then alerted to the presence of any vehicle with a match on that list.

As written, the new senate bill would allow for law enforcement to manually lift a cover, or flap, as a way to manually inspect a plate number. The idea is not only to prevent dragnet license plate data collection by law enforcement, but also by private companies. A California company, Vigilant Solutions, is believed to have the largest private ALPR database in America, with billions of records.

Do we have a reasonable expectation of privacy in public?


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  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday May 09 2017, @08:36AM (17 children)

    by kaszz (4211) on Tuesday May 09 2017, @08:36AM (#506789) Journal

    Does the law says that parked cars must have a clean license plate? Otherwise a simple pump with mud could fix this and remove it with another supply of washing fluid when driving.

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  • (Score: 2) by Lagg on Tuesday May 09 2017, @09:00AM (3 children)

    by Lagg (105) on Tuesday May 09 2017, @09:00AM (#506796) Homepage Journal

    Chances are the cops have the washer fluid too. Or bottled water. Though I wonder how that would look in court. "This officer illegally washed my car"

    It's alright, eventually you won't need your own car.

    --
    http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿
    • (Score: 4, Informative) by kaszz on Tuesday May 09 2017, @09:08AM (2 children)

      by kaszz (4211) on Tuesday May 09 2017, @09:08AM (#506800) Journal

      The problem is while they can wash it. The practicality of it is however dismal. The scanners are used by driving by, so as to read many plates fast. It's data gathering where the opportunity makes the surveillance.

      • (Score: 2) by rcamera on Tuesday May 09 2017, @03:27PM (1 child)

        by rcamera (2360) on Tuesday May 09 2017, @03:27PM (#506940) Homepage Journal

        during the latest NYC snowstorm, the MTA cancelled all trains for the remainder of the day. this left me "abandoned" in the city, which is very sucky. what's even suckier is that i only paid $8 for parking, which entitled me to only 1 day of parking, expiring at midnight that evening.

        the snow stopped early (~15:00, as expected), but trains were still canceled, so there was still no way out. i rented an overpriced room near the office, with the hopes that i would get reimbursed by the company. at ~00:05, the friendly local police farce where my car was parked SHOVELED A PATH TO MY CAR THROUGH THE PLOW-DRIFT AND CLEANED THE LICENSE (and a tiny bit of the windshield - just enough to put my wiper blade down so it could hold the shiny new $40 ticket; of course, the wiper blade then froze onto the window, as expected.)

        they CAN and WILL clean it if it helps with their quota.

        --
        /* no comment */
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 09 2017, @06:22PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 09 2017, @06:22PM (#507016)

          Yeah they were dicks.
          But that doesn't change the point, the only reason they put in that effort was because they were confident of a nearly 100% hit-rate.
          When the hit-rate is less than 1% that level of effort isn't worth it.

  • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday May 09 2017, @09:00AM (6 children)

    by MostCynical (2589) on Tuesday May 09 2017, @09:00AM (#506797) Journal

    Australian vehicles must have plates which are visible at 20m, not obscured in any way.
    http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/documents/roads/safety-rules/standards/vsi-58-number-plate-visibility.pdf [nsw.gov.au]

    --
    "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 09 2017, @09:34AM (5 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 09 2017, @09:34AM (#506805)

      Australian vehicles must have plates which are visible at 20m, not obscured in any way.

      Not even by physics (geometry and perspective)? How are then visible at 20m from each side?

      ...roads/safety-rules...

      Not about parked vehicles.

      • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday May 09 2017, @09:56AM (4 children)

        by MostCynical (2589) on Tuesday May 09 2017, @09:56AM (#506815) Journal

        There are no exceptions for parked/driving/being towed - you're not allowed to cover it up, in public (dirty weekend off road? The Law expects you to clean your windows, mirrors and plates before driving (or parking) on public roads)

        --
        "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
        • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday May 09 2017, @08:23PM (3 children)

          by Grishnakh (2831) on Tuesday May 09 2017, @08:23PM (#507096)

          So what if someone parks behind you on the street (parallel parking)? You can't read someone's plate from 20m away if there's another car parked immediately behind them.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 09 2017, @11:51AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 09 2017, @11:51AM (#506836)

    > Does the law says that parked cars must have a clean license plate?

    I find it hard to believe that cars parked on private property (which is basically every parking lot) must display a license plate.
    On-street parking, yes, but not parking lots. You don't need a plate to operate a vehicle on your own land, it shouldn't be any different if you are on someone else's land either.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 09 2017, @12:16PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 09 2017, @12:16PM (#506843)

      If it would apply to cars on private property, everyone parking his car in a garage with the garage door closed would be in trouble, as the garage door obviously obstructs the view of the license plate.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 09 2017, @12:39PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 09 2017, @12:39PM (#506853)

      Several private and public authorities will make it an issue if your car is on your property, but not displaying current stickers.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 09 2017, @01:38PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 09 2017, @01:38PM (#506886)

        I already ran into this problem with an unregistered car parked on Ca private property. The cops said if a car is visible from the street it has to have current registration, otherwise it has to be hidden from view from the street.

        • (Score: 1) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Tuesday May 09 2017, @03:23PM (1 child)

          by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Tuesday May 09 2017, @03:23PM (#506938)

          In my jurisdiction using a car cover in an acceptable way of hiding an unregistered vehicle.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 09 2017, @05:15PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 09 2017, @05:15PM (#506986)

            Again in Ca, it has to be behind a solid fence or in a garage. Car covers have to have the license plate number printed on them if seen from the street.