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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?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 09 2017, @09:34AM (5 children)
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)
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)
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: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday May 09 2017, @11:21PM (2 children)
Must not park:
Within one metre of another vehicle parked in front or behind
(does not apply when angle parking)
http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/roads/safety-rules/road-rules/parking.html [nsw.gov.au]
20m visibility still works, at an angle.
"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 Wednesday May 10 2017, @12:21AM (1 child)
Wow, that's just plain nuts. That would *never* fly here in the US, there just isn't enough space in downtown cities like DC and NYC to have a crazy rule like that. Vehicles here are frequently inches apart (not on both sides of course, you couldn't get out), and it can get pretty tight. A lot of people here in DC even have bumper protectors to avoid paint damage if someone bumps into them while parallel parking.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday May 10 2017, @02:11AM
Enforcement varies..
We have some odd rules: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/lane-cove-council-parking-officers-make-a-killing-by-having-no-parking-signs/news-story/1ba930fd459e6431e47a7a407c8bf5d4 [dailytelegraph.com.au]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex