[116755] in Cypherpunks
RE: Speed cameras in the UK - (big brother is watching)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Trei, Peter)
Fri Aug 20 08:17:58 1999
Message-ID: <D104150098E6D111B7830000F8D90AE8E62A22@exna02.securitydynamics.com>
From: "Trei, Peter" <ptrei@securitydynamics.com>
To: cypherpunks@algebra.com, "'Sean Roach'" <roach_s@mail.intplsrv.net>
Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 08:07:31 -0400
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Reply-To: "Trei, Peter" <ptrei@securitydynamics.com>
> ----------
> From: Sean Roach[SMTP:roach_s@mail.intplsrv.net]
>
> At 05:40 PM 8/19/99 +0100, foo@maladroit.sol.co.uk wrote:
> >> By reading your license plates and matching them up camera-to-
> >> camera. Kent and Leicestershire police are so impressed with it that
> >> systems are being erected in their enforcement areas too.
> >>
> ...
> Something that was tossed around here in rural Oklahoma for a while are
> those little liscense plate protectors. The smoked plastic ones are nice
> and popular, and after a few gravel roads and other hazards, they can be
> scratched up pretty good. I imagine that they would only work better on
> the front, and if it makes it difficult to read the numbers with human
> sight, I'd at least hope that it would be worse for cameras.
>
I strongly expect that you'll find that covering up your
license plate - even with a clear plastic cover - is
illegal in Britain. I don't recall ever seeing one in the
decade I lived there.
This speed averaging technique is nothing new - I seem
to remember that the French were doing it on toll highways
over 20 years ago. People would stop at the last rest area
before their exit and have lunch while waiting for their
time to get off. Of course, the speed limit there was
more rational than here in America - 130 kph / 83 mph.
Peter Trei
