"Smart Plates" Could Betray California Drivers' Privacy 262
An anonymous reader writes with news that a California Senate Bill would authorize the state's Department of Motor Vehicles to test a digital registration plate system patented by San Francisco-based Smart Plate Mobile on as many as 160,000 cars. An article on the proposed trial in the Modesto Bee says, in part:
"The state hopes the technology will improve efficiencies in vehicle registrations and potentially save the DMV some of the $20 million spent each year in postage for renewals. Privacy advocates say the approach could leave motorists vulnerable to government surveillance by undoing a Supreme Court ruling that required authorities to obtain search warrants before using vehicle tracking devices. 'It means everyone driving in California will have their location accessible to the government at any time,' said Nate Cardozo, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. In 2010, the Legislature considered a similar bill supported by Smart Plate Mobile, with the noted addition of allowing for scrolling advertisements when a vehicle comes to a stop for four seconds or longer." If only it took smart plates to track you.
Re:Why is there an assumption of privacy? (Score:5, Funny)
lol @ liberals..
"I voted for the benevolent dictator and all I got was this panoptic totalitarian police state."
Re:digital screen can easily get damaged (Score:5, Funny)
I have a question for you.
Do you type your postings in a foreign (non-western European at that) language in Google Translate, then paste the results here?
Re:Why is there an assumption of privacy? (Score:2, Funny)
lol @ liberals..
"I voted for the benevolent dictator and all I got was this panoptic totalitarian police state."
It's like the Republicans put this into place, but a Democratic administration was figuring how to use it.
Reminds me of an old political saw: The Democrats invented the Deficit, but the Republicans figured out how to use it.