[IP] Re: Automatic License Plate Recognition in BC

[David Farber]

________________________________________
From: Thomas Roach [kodakfilm at gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 12:06 AM
To: David Farber
Cc: Thomas Roach; ip
Subject: Re: [IP] Automatic License Plate Recognition in BC

I work as a volunteer policeman in Lincoln, CA. The word is we will
soon purchase a license plate reading system. The police in the
adjoining town already have two cars with devices on the roof of their
cars equipped to read license plates on cars moving in both
directions. Determining if the plate is not registered [usually means
the owner hasn't paid the license fee] or if it is listed as stolen,
is done by computer and is almost instantaneous. The system certainly
could be used in finding people suspected of crimes or for whom a
warrant has been sworn for their arrest. Whether thIs this an invasion
of privacy or an "illegal search" is beyond my scope. That won't stop
it from happening.

I think what I most dislike is not that the government is routinely
doing this and a LOT more at the federal level, but the fact that our
government [Congress to be exact] doesn't have the balls to declare
war. Of course we have a lot of people who think you can't declare war
on a "religion". We are effectively declaring war on an evil belief
system that honestly believes you have the right to kill hundreds of
people based on their not accepting your belief system. That is sort
of what war is all about and why it shouldn't be declared solely by
the executive branch without the consent, make that a legal
declaration, by Congress as I believe is required by the Constitution.
I'd have a hard time these days taking the oath of enlistment I swore
through my 20 years of service in the USAF, since we swore to protect
the Constitution, not the executive branch. Anyway, if a war is won,
the belief is that your rights under the Constitution are restored. I
think that too is a thing of the past.

I'm almost 70 and have more or less, mostly more, given up on the
belief that the country of my youth, exists in any meaningful sense
anymore. The sexual mores have certainly changed in ways I was so sure
was good when I was young and horny. When I hear of the lyrics  of the
songs sung by hip-hop jive ass scum or read of the escapades of the
likes of some of the current "stars", I am fairly sure we would be
better of with some restrictions on "free" speech, except in the
political arena. As for current societal behavior, there doesn't seem
to be any sense that the "stars" are acting improperly, just prurient
interest by the public in their unseemly behavior.

The public seems to have no sense that "rights" require
responsibility. Technology has changed a lot and from my point of view
more access to information is always a plus. That assumes the
information is used to help you make an informed decision. The current
administration has made a joke of the FOIA and almost any "right" to
federal documents or decisions. Thanks to the acts of terrorists, most
people correctly think it is the job of the government to protect us
from terrorists. I think they are right but think from a
Constitutional point of view this means we need to declare war. It
sure isn't like WW2 or Korea when the enemy was clearly defined and
the average American was totally willing to make the sacrifices
required to defeat the enemy. Well, maybe we better leave out Korea
and certainly every other "war" we have been involved in since then.

I guess in the end people will pay a price for giving up their
liberties short of having declared a war at which point you basically
have almost no rights. In the meanwhile because of the not unjustified
fear of terrorists, we have made mince meat of almost all our "rights"
and that is probably the sole reason we haven't had another attack
within the continental USA. Re our rights under the Constitution, I
wouldn't expect them back anytime soon, regardless of what we elect.


Thomas Roach
thomasbroach at mac.com

http://gallery.mac.com/thomasbroach





On Jan 16, 2008, at 11:15 AM, David Farber wrote:

>
> ________________________________________
> From: Kurt Albershardt [kurt at nv.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 2:04 PM
> To: David Farber
> Subject: Automatic License Plate Recognition in BC
>
> Mobile multicamera system looks impressive on the promotional video
> but the implications are a bit unsettling  <http://www.freesociety.ca/articles/alpr
> >
>


-------------------------------------------
Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com

----- End forwarded message -----
-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
______________________________________________________________
ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org
8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A  7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE