Maryland's New Police-Car-Mounted Cameras Read License Plates
As the Washington Post reportes, the latest weapon in the war on crime is a pair of cameras mounted on the top of police-car rooftops. Said cameras snap photos of license plates on cars in front of and behind the police cruiser. The photos are then decoded using advanced image processing techniques, which read the numbers from the license plate and feed them through a police database looking for matches. Originally, these systems were purchased by Maryland police to help reduce car theft, but seem to have found just as happy a home pulling up unpaid traffic tickets.
Of course, don't expect privacy advocates to go quietly into the night on this one. The indiscriminate running of plates (police estimate the computer can check the records of 3,000 vehicles a day) strikes many as overstepping acceptable bounds. The British may be used to this level of surveillance, but Americans tend to be a little more uneasy about "the man" watching their every move. [Source: Washington Post]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Scott D @ Aug 5th 2008 1:59PM
Here is a line of thought for you
Repossession agents and companies are using this exact same technology and I can think of some nightmare situations that could can and will be of a great concern not to mention the Fair Credit reporting act possibly being in violation, by creditors by letting anyone who runs across a vehicle know of the owners credit standing.
The possibility anyone could take a tag and enter it in with a vin just to find a location for any illegal purposes because unlike police, Repo men are not bound to be of a good character as I know having been one for years and know of many unsavory ones that are in this line of work.
Not to mention in Georgia tag information is highly illegal to resell as it is.
Let your imagination run wild as to what this really means in tracking every movement of every person at all times, a huge database of peoples whereabouts at all times available to anyone, anytime, anywhere,
This database stores every vehicle scanned and locations forever. As I was told today some units are sold to unrelated companies (ie taxi cabs ect just for the finders fee) which means eventually they will be roaming all over recording where you go and where you have been. Storing it for future use as seen fit by who ever wants it if they know how to get to it.
fftspam @ Aug 6th 2008 1:09AM
Oh gosh, like this is new.
I guess you wouldn't like your insurance rates to come down because this system flags stolen vehicles also.. More bad guys arrested = lower insurance. Speaking of insurance, who pays when your car is hit by non-insured car? Hmm, You do via your insurance. This system will also check to see if the car's insurance is paid up. Oh darn, this thing is also looking for unpaid traffic tickets... oh the horror.... arresting the guy with outstanding warrants. Tragic. Pick up your toys and move to the arctic circle if you are so concerned.
This is a post regarding the police... not repo men.. you have been watching too much reality TV