They know your deepest, secret, fear.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Well, maybe they don't know that, but they sure know how to get most peoples attention....... take your car.

For most of us, having the "authorities" take your car is a monumental hassle. When that happens, the best case scenario is, it's going to cost you plenty. Worst case could go much further than most people even want to contemplate.

A company called G2tactics has come up with a gadget that looks like a radar gun, but it reads license plate numbers and checks it against any database, automatically.
So mounted on a police car, it will be checking every car within range, while the cop goes about his business. If a plate shows up as stolen or registered to someone that has outstanding tickets/warrant, the thing will alert the cop.

That don't sound so bad, to an upstanding citizen.... more police efficiency for our tax bucks...right on.

Wrong on.
G2tactics says, "Our customers are law enforcement, parking enforcement, tax enforcement, asset protection, special investigations, and fleet management."
Wait a minute... fleet management? Asset protection and special investigations by whom?

Wired News says;

Bucholz, who designed some of the first mobile license plate reading, or LPR, equipment, gave a presentation at the 2006 National Institute of Justice conference here last week laying out a vision of the future in which LPR does everything from helping insurance companies find missing cars to letting retail chains chart customer migrations. It could also let a nosy citizen with enough cash find out if the mayor is having an affair, he says.

Giant data-tracking firms such as ChoicePoint, Accurint and Acxiom already collect detailed personal and financial information on millions of Americans. Once they discover how lucrative it is to know where a person goes between the supermarket, for example, and the strip club, the LPR industry could explode, says Bucholz.

Private detectives would want the information. So would repo men or bail bondsmen. And the government, which often contracts out personal data collection -- in part, so it doesn't have to deal with Freedom of Information Act requests -- might encourage it.

"I know it sounds really Big Brother," Bucholz says. "But it's going to happen. It's going to get cheaper and cheaper until they slap them up on every taxicab and delivery truck and track where people live." And work. And sleep. And move.

So, Big Brother is watching, so what? I'm not a terrorist or a criminal.
Maybe.

Kathy Martone of New Haven owed just $85 in taxes when the city -- without warning -- confiscated her Dodge Neon right out of her driveway while she was doing the dishes last week.

Maybe not.

Arlington, VA Uses Bootfinder Camera to Tow for Overdue Library Books

But it doesn't really matter.

The Florida Supreme Court allows cities to enact ordinances allowing seizure of vehicles belonging to those accused, not convicted, of misdemeanors.

Maybe this should go in the WTF thread.

[MaggieL]

So...you bolted a plate with an identifying number on your car, but you're just kinda hoping nobody reads it?

[skysidhe]

tee hee maggie


ok but what about global positioning units? http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/11/1136.asp

Those handy dandy grocery discount cards? http://couponing.about.com/od/grocer.../disccards.htm

or even that law that allows the Federal Government access to your SS number when you apply for a credit card?

Big brother dosn't bother me. I know my life is boring so if someone wants to watch they'll be snoring in their coffee soon enough. As for me I perhaps feel like I have some mark on this world. If even contributing to the american deficit with my money problems. I won't be a total unknown as I push up my daisys one day.

The only thing that does bother me is having things on ones credit report that either don't belong to you and you can't see what they are. You only get hints from creditors. Like they SAY there is this or that so they can either collect more money or raise your interest rate. something like that.

[Elspode]

When they finally, once and for all, come to take your guns, you can pretty much declare the totalitarian overthrow of our nation complete. All Hail Big Oil! All Hail Wall Street! All Hail the Mighty Corporate Masters!

Its all about the money.

[Flint]

hmmm "ChoicePoint" - we all know how accurate their work is.

[KinkyVixen]

That truely is WTF...so pretty soon if you bounce a check you should be prepared to walk out of your house one morning to go to work only to find that your car has been towed and you owe $1,000 in fees and fines for a $30 bounced check...nice.

[Trilby]

Originally Posted by KinkyVixen

That truely is WTF...so pretty soon if you bounce a check you should be prepared to walk out of your house one morning to go to work only to find that your car has been towed and you owe $1,000 in fees and fines for a $30 bounced check...nice.

According to some who worship on the alter of Ayn Rand, that is exactly correct. You did, after all, bounce that check which shows irresponsibility, lack of character, an inability to read and understand your responsibility and duty to your bank, checkbook, financial institution and mankind in general and probably a burgeoning criminal mind set on your part. Because of these deal-breaker personality faults, along with some unsavory library book selections you made while in college: all knowledge gleaned from your license plate, by the way (and, after all, YOU did put that license plate on your car, didn't you?) you have your choice of the following: Death by firing squad (don't worry, I hear some cellarites are very good shots) OR trial by water---a somewhat quaint practice that we are now resurrecting and we think you will enjoy!

Who says the system doesn't work! It's glorious!

[KinkyVixen]

Not that I mind exactly, because I work at a bank and know how annoying it is for people to write checks when they have no money in their account...I guess I was just saying how backwards the system seems to be. If I did plan on taking care of my bank account, how would it be possible after I ended up paying to get my car back plus the rest of the fees I would end up owing after it was all said and done? Although I doubt it would add up to being $1000 like I exaggerated above. Not to mention the fact that after one's account is negative for a certain time they get charged off and can no longer open a bank account anywhere. How do they expect people to hold their heads above water? I guess it doesn't matter...if they get their money. I hate money. I hate that the world revolves around it and defines you by it. I hate the fact that I barely make enough to pay for rent, to pay for school, and to pay to live on a daily basis...but they have enough to spend billions of dollars on matters that don't even affect us...or affect us in ways that only cause us to have more taken out of our paychecks for taxes, etc. I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free, and I won't forget the men who died, or the government who took my money from me.

[Spexxvet]

Isn't there something about the punishment fitting the crime?

[Trilby]

Towing your car for an overdue library book seems harsh to you? You must be soft on crime.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Flint

hmmm "ChoicePoint" - we all know how accurate their work is.

Not to mention secure.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Brianna

Who says the system doesn't work! It's glorious!

So, you got all those little problems cleared up then.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by KinkyVixen

If I did plan on taking care of my bank account, how would it be possible after I ended up paying to get my car back plus the rest of the fees I would end up owing after it was all said and done?

Maybe you shouldn't write checks you can't cover?

But if not, I doubt there's a bank on the planet that wouldn't be delighted to sell you bounced-check protection...but you won't get it free.

[Trilby]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

So, you got all those little problems cleared up then.

Oh, even better. You'd be surprised.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by skysidhe

tee hee maggie
ok but what about global positioning units?

I doubt very much that speed enforcement is what the cabbies are worried about. They just don't want their company to know in real time when they're not where they're supposed to be.