At 9:03 AM -0700 9/4/97, Anonymous wrote:
Yes, rest assured that Big Brother is watching. Three CopBots have been deployed around the county to take pictures of vehicles exiting intersections after the light has turned red. These CopBots are a great boon to our prosperity and security as they free up the huminoid Cops from traffic duties so that they can better spend their time toilet plunger kicking.
Yes, they love these in Germany too. Ways to combat:
1) Wax your license plate, especially the front one.
Or smear mud on the plates. This is an old trick. (We have the cameras in our area, too. In Campbell, CA, for example. My recollection from news stories is that the camera also snaps a photo of the driver, allowing reasonably positive ID. If the photo is blurred or not usable in court, the traffic charge is dropped (probably only if challenged, though). Some interesting constitutional issues, it seems to me. Namely, if Alice is driving Bob's car and is ticketed, should Bob face the points on his license? Or even criminal charges? Seems to violate our notions of scienter.) By the way, a useful survival trick is to have a spare set of license plates available. It's not a crime to carry an old set around in one's vehicle, only to actually use them (and be caught). Sometimes these can be found at junkyards, sometimes old plates from other states don't have to be turned in. And the unscrupulous can steal plates from other cars (or switch them, though this has obvious problems if they are traceable to you!!). Sure, these plates won't be "valid," and may not have current stickers (if they're old). But if the cops are looking for your car, or even using automated plate scanners on toll roads, bridges, etc., then having some old plates from your Oregon car sure beats having the plates their computers have flagged. There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."