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On Tuesday, one of the largest LPR manufacturers, ELSAG, announced a major upgrade to "allow investigators to search by color, seven body types, 34 makes, and nine visual descriptors in addition to the standard plate number, location, and time."
Such a vast expansion of the tech now means that evading such scans will be even more difficult.
For years, Ars has been reporting on automated license plate readers (ALPRs, or simply LPRs)—a specialized camera often mounted on police cars that can scan at speeds of up to 60 plates per second.
Those scans are compared against what law enforcement usually dubs a "hot list" before alerting the officer to the presence of a potentially wanted or stolen vehicle. All scans are typically kept in a police database for weeks, months, or years on end.
These devices are now in common use by cities big and small across the United States, as well as many countries around the globe, including the United Kingdom. Police at the upcoming royal wedding in London will use LPRs to monitor unauthorized vehicles.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 20 2018, @03:53AM (7 children)
Just put a QR code on the plates already. The whole point of license plates is that it's easy to identify vehicles.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 20 2018, @04:16AM
The man was moonscraping the feces when he saw... it. The man moved. The man moved, and it screamed. Its screams continued for hours before the silence came. The woman, having insufficiently appraised the men's rights, collapsed briefly. "Rot! Decay! Decompose!" The man spat out these words, his face wearing the wrathful expression.
Happily, the man returned to his quarters, leaving the woman to fester in its solitude.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 20 2018, @04:22AM (4 children)
The point of license plates was not to enable the government to conduct mass surveillance on the populace, however, since the technology to do this automatically, accurately, and cheaply did not exist at the time. Mass surveillance of all forms - whether it happens in a public place or not - should be banned; it necessarily threatens democracy and freedom.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Sunday May 20 2018, @04:28AM (3 children)
But, but, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear! Right?
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 20 2018, @05:08AM (2 children)
Fine, then I get arrested for "indecent exposure"!
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday May 20 2018, @10:11AM (1 child)
First they came for all the people arrested for indecent exposure, but I was well dressed (and white), so I did nothing and watched as they hauled Ethanol away........
;)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 20 2018, @09:11PM
I, too, can make statements with irrelevant details:
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 20 2018, @05:17AM
Mexico has had barcodes on their number plates forever. As for going all electronic, human readable plates let witness quote a partial or whole number of a vehicle of interest.