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Police are tagging fleeing cars with GPS darts to avoid dangerous pursuits

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51–60 of 63 posts

Re: Police are tagging fleeing cars with GPS darts to avoid dangerous pursuits

#51

The other day I was driving through a school zone and it had that 25 mph radar screen. Most people did slow down, but it got me thinking. With modern cars being "smart", could govt offer a tax tax break for folks opting into the car sotware capping speeds dynamically?

Governments are already considering or in the process of mandating that cars be equipped with automatic speed limiters. It's long overdue.

There's no way that's a good idea without a AZ-5 style wax+paper seal and flip cap on the steering wheel to turn it off. You want to be able to use your car in emergency situations.

Re: Police are tagging fleeing cars with GPS darts to avoid dangerous pursuits

#53
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s always been weird to me the US doesn’t do this and often requires a trooper to pull you over and give you a written ticket. Very different cultures. The US is still a culture of personal accountability and freedom. If you aren't hurting anyone you can do as you please. The UK skews toward rules for the sake of rules. Sadly the US is also moving in that direction, but mercifully still trails the UK.

It's the long tail of free speech. You can't stop someone from publishing information about how to defeat such a device. It would become common knowledge very quickly and would be used easily by criminals with specialized toolsets available on several different levels of marketplace. In the UK, you can much more easily wrap all that up, and deny existence to those markets and even to import of that equipment. And it'…

Hereditary peerage was ended with the House of Lords Act 1999.

Re: Police are tagging fleeing cars with GPS darts to avoid dangerous pursuits

#54

The other day I was driving through a school zone and it had that 25 mph radar screen. Most people did slow down, but it got me thinking. With modern cars being "smart", could govt offer a tax tax break for folks opting into the car sotware capping speeds dynamically?

But I pay taxes for energy already? Why should I pay to charge and then again to drive?

Re: Police are tagging fleeing cars with GPS darts to avoid dangerous pursuits

#55

The cops backing off doesn't make these people stop. Most of the time, people running from the cops keep right on speeding and running red lights, crashing within minutes of the chase being terminated. This does nothing to solve the problem of joyriders injuring and killing innocent people. They often attract attention of police because they're already driving in such a way that they are a lethal threat, and it is ab…

> Don't run from the cops.

Ahh you're white, right?

Re: Police are tagging fleeing cars with GPS darts to avoid dangerous pursuits

#56

They do speed tracking by camera and send fines in the mail already in the UK. Reports are that nationwide camera network already tracks cars from driveway to destination. Worse cameras are now looking at activity inside the vehicle for fines - like not having a seatbelt in place or having a cellphone in hand. There was even a fine issued for “flipping off” a traffic camera https://nypost.com/2021/02/15/uk-driver-avo…

> Reports are ...

Weasel words.

Re: Police are tagging fleeing cars with GPS darts to avoid dangerous pursuits

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disabling government technology is a crime. Interfering with third party data collection efforts is my absolute right. These are not the same things.

That doesn't really sound like a right and if it is you probably signed it away when you bought the car.

And that company is free to fight that battle in civil court whereas the government will haul you into criminal court. Pretty big difference.

Re: Police are tagging fleeing cars with GPS darts to avoid dangerous pursuits

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the long tail of free speech. You can't stop someone from publishing information about how to defeat such a device. It would become common knowledge very quickly and would be used easily by criminals with specialized toolsets available on several different levels of marketplace. In the UK, you can much more easily wrap all that up, and deny existence to those markets and even to import of that equipment. And it'…

Hereditary peerage was ended with the House of Lords Act 1999.

I don't know anything about UK law, but apparently the act still allows for 92 hereditary peers[1], and indeed:

"The most recent grant of a hereditary peerage was in 2019 for the youngest child of Elizabeth II, Prince Edward"[2]

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lords_Act_1999

[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hereditary_peer

Re: Police are tagging fleeing cars with GPS darts to avoid dangerous pursuits

#59
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does feel like a very stereotypically American view to be absolutely aghast at the idea of the government tracking the location of cars while being entirely permissive of private companies doing the same and reselling that data to anyone and everyone that wants it (including the government, ironically)

Disabling government technology is a crime. Interfering with third party data collection efforts is my absolute right. These are not the same things.

In most (if not all?) parts of the US you are legally required to display a license plate and to not obscure it — those tinted covers you see people use are both a “Pull me over if you’re not otherwise busy!” to a lot of State Troopers (at least according to those that I occasionally shoot with on a pistol range), and ineffective outside nighttime (they reflect the IR emitter, but those often aren’t on in daylight).

So, how are you “interfering with third party data collection efforts”, while also meeting your legal requirements (government) obligations to display an unobscured and valid license plate on the vehicle, given the conversation is about ALPR/ANPR and where the tracking is a camera which reads the license plate?

Re: Police are tagging fleeing cars with GPS darts to avoid dangerous pursuits

#60
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds frankly dystopian, and I hope that this never comes to my country. The government has no business tracking the movements of its citizens outside of an active criminal investigation and only then within well defined paramaters.

It does feel like a very stereotypically American view to be absolutely aghast at the idea of the government tracking the location of cars while being entirely permissive of private companies doing the same and reselling that data to anyone and everyone that wants it (including the government, ironically)

I'm not cool with private companies tracking my location either, outside of specific scenarios where I've given express permission.

This country absolutely needs stronger consumer protections.

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