The Law Of Unintended Consequences, Part 235,131
Britain, well on its way to a Big Brother society where everyone is watched all the time, has gone in big for speed trap cameras, red light cameras, London's congestion relief scheme (using cameras) and other road use pricing plans using, you guessed it, cameras. And as a result something odd is happening. People are figuring out how to beat the cameras.
By stealing or cloning car license plates.
Police chiefs want a radical overhaul of the car number-plate system - because so many vehicles are being 'cloned' by motorists trying to beat speed cameras, the London congestion charge and other road-pricing schemes.
They want a clampdown on shops and internet sites selling registration plates and new rules forcing motorists to fit tamper-proof plates which shatter if removed.
They are also calling for the plates to be fitted with electronic chips linked to ANPR (automatic number-plate recognition) systems so that a vehicle's identity can be confirmed against a computerised national register. (Emphasis added)
Senior officers refuse to criticise the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) openly, but claim the system has changed little since the Thirties.
Superintendent John Wake, of the Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service, said: "It's too easy to clone or steal car registration plates, which in turn makes it easy to commit crime using an innocent person's identity.
"It means innocent motorists have to prove they did not commit crimes in which their vehicles were supposedly involved.
"The vehicle is a crime-enabler and we want to reduce the opportunity for it to be exploited. I am not criticising the DVLA. The number plate in its present form has had its time."
And once all these changes are made (and paid for by the citizens), someone will figure out a way to beat them. Whereupon they will have to go to the next logical step. Implanting identification chips directly into the citizens.
And do not think for one second that someone won't suggest it.
World news | Gaius Saturday, 2 June , 2007
By Purple Avenger, Saturday, 2 June , 2007 @ 6:06 pm
The shatterable plate scheme will fall apart. Apparently, they’ve never heard of black electrical tape and/or paint. Modern stuff that.
The chipped ones will of course be brutally expensive to manufacture and constantly being “disabled” by minor parking incidents where the chip is smashed. Creative application of 240V power to the chip will undoubtedly result in its demise as well.
By feeblemind, Saturday, 2 June , 2007 @ 7:00 pm
I fear the id chip implant in humans is coming. Someday.
By Purple Avenger, Saturday, 2 June , 2007 @ 7:37 pm
Its already here. A few people have been getting their kids chipped.