Topic: Digital license plates...

[johngenx]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57601846-71/california-first-to-get-electronic-license-plates-easier-to-track/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=title

Do NOT want.

The suspicious (which ought, these days, to include most people) might wonder whether these license plates -- which very probably will be accessed through a mobile data network -- will let the powers that be know where people are, yes, all the time.

The bill doesn't seem clear about this. What is clear is that the company that operates the system will have access to everyone's location.

[Scarecrow]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57601846-71/california-first-to-get-electronic-license-plates-easier-to-track/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=title

Do NOT want.

The suspicious (which ought, these days, to include most people) might wonder whether these license plates -- which very probably will be accessed through a mobile data network -- will let the powers that be know where people are, yes, all the time.

The bill doesn't seem clear about this. What is clear is that the company that operates the system will have access to everyone's location.

And what do they need that for...?

[Snowman]

that !

[phazotron]

I wouldn't this with a ten foot pole  .

No doubt somebody out there would though using the "better safe than sorry" approach just in case 'something' happens.  Funny that the non-web company would know the car's whereabouts at all times but the state may or may not. 

[Fobroader]

that !

X1000.....If this even becomes a posibility, Im going to occupy the DMV office. This is a lot too much like "1984" for my tastes.

[random006]

I pass, assuming that will even have that right in the future.  The attraction to the powers that be is obvious;  constant knowledge of any given vehicle is like catnip the likes of a DMV or NSA and so on. 

What I find even worse is the idea of the network being hacked by third parties whose interests might be even less savoury:
-  ID theft
-  license plate spoofing for fraudulent uses
-  ...

It's a cool, if inevitable outgrowth of technology but one that is rife with the potential of abuse.  Perhaps when they've worked out the kinks it will be of more use than not. 

In the meantime, I'll just continue using the old fashioned, unchanging, boring metal plates I've always used.