UK To Passively Monitor Every Vehicle 703
DrSkwid writes "The UK Police are building a network to monitor the movement of every vehicle in the U.K. through an extensive Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system. The data will be retained for 2 years. The Register further reports that the system will likely be used for issuing speeding fines." From the article: "The primary aims claimed for the system are tackling untaxed and uninsured vehicles, stolen cars and the considerably broader one of 'denying criminals the use of the roads.' But unless the Times has got the spacing wrong, having one every quarter of a mile on motorways quite clearly means they'll be used to enforce speed limits as well, which would effectively make the current generation of Gatsos obsolete. Otherwise, checking a vehicle's tax and insurance status every 15 seconds or thereabouts would seem overkill."
What's a Gatso? (Score:2, Funny)
Don't misread that you dyslexic perv.
New motorsport in the UK (Score:3, Funny)
Does this mean drag-racers can practise on the highway and get away with it?
Boy am I glad... (Score:5, Funny)
I've seen the future... (Score:5, Funny)
A culture prone to understatement. (Score:5, Funny)
In other news, the Atlantic Ocean is described as being "considerably broader" than the English Channel.
But these are folks whose pet name for the gulf of water separating North America from Europe as "the pond".
One might go further and suggest that British people are prone to occasional tendencies towards understatement.
Re:Another reason (Score:3, Funny)
The UK Gov't hasn't given us a whole heck of a lot of trouble since...
They have given you trouble! (Score:3, Funny)
Really they fuc8ed you over big time. If they hadn't gone with you on the Iraq war fiasco then Iraq II would not have happened and you Yanks would still have a reasonably good international reputation. The UK gov plan is to make the US look so bad that the UK can lead Europe as this centuries only super power.
God shave the Queen!
I've got a bike, (Score:4, Funny)
It's got a basket, a bell that rings
and things to make it look good
I'd give it to you if I could,
but I borrowed it
Syd Barrett escapes the universal monitoring!
Re:Much fairer speeding fines (Score:2, Funny)
There are times when the offence of speeding is hardly justified as a safety issue. Overtaking is one such time when, done properly, one may need to exceed the speed of the vehicle one is passing..
Of course one could have fun with this. After passing one vehicle registration plate recognition camera at 150MPH one could slam on the brakes and park on the motorway for a minute or so.. then drop the clutch and zoom off again..!
Re:Boy am I glad... (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, those European countries (Score:3, Funny)
Britain: Land of really stupid criminals who don't know enough to switch license plates before committing a crime with a car.
Seems to me that Q knew what he was doing when he gave James Bond an Aston Martin with changeable license plates.
You've made some spelling mistakes (Score:2, Funny)
I think you meant bastardized and tons. When will these Brits learn to spell?
Re:New motorsport in the UK (Score:3, Funny)
-matthew
Re:wow (Score:2, Funny)
Brazil (Score:4, Funny)