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E-ZPasses Get Read All Over New York (Not Just At Toll Booths)

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Re: E-ZPasses Get Read All Over New York (Not Just At Toll Booths)

#51

Post by blah32497 »

diminoten wrote: post #44
forgotAgain wrote: post #37

I have to disagree with those who say this isn't news. It was news to me and will, I believe, be news to most others as well. The only time before this that I heard about using EZ pass for anything other than tolls was a few years ago when I read about some feasibility work on the concept of traffic flow optimization being done around Ithaca, NY. I do wonder why they haven't been used yet to track speeding violations…

Why are you against having your car tracked? You're in public, aren't you? Why do you think you have a right to privacy in public?

I think this is a perfectly legitimate question. What is the parent post genuinely concerned about? (assuming he's not hauling drugs)

Re: E-ZPasses Get Read All Over New York (Not Just At Toll Booths)

#52

Post by stcredzero »

PaulHoule wrote: post #36

You'll pull my E-Z pass out of my cold dead hands. This is the first piece of vehicle telematics I added when I got a new car. When I was stuck in a traffic jam at an off-ramp near Albany, I realized how I'd make it better for myself and other drivers if I got one. It's particularly good that E-Z Pass uses the same technology as most other states in the Northeast so you can drive the Mass Pike and out to Maine or the…

I have been a user of EZ pass, and it is wonderful from that standpoint. From a security design standpoint, it's a matter of a pointy haired boss reasoning through "out of sight, out of mind."

Re: E-ZPasses Get Read All Over New York (Not Just At Toll Booths)

#53

Post by HPLovecraft »

seiji wrote: post #5

His presentation also featured pictures he took of many NY police's personal cars with deliberately obscured license plates so they can't be automatically read (and other features like illegally too-tinted windows, etc). *edit: found the presentation at https://www.defcon.org/html/links/dc-archives/dc-21-archive....

dumb question maybe -- what does he mean by when he says the license is "salted" is this referring to road salt?

Re: E-ZPasses Get Read All Over New York (Not Just At Toll Booths)

#54

Post by NoPiece »

tjohns wrote: post #25
oceanstone wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FastTrak (used in the SF Bay Area) have a warning, laying this out when you buy the devices. You don't actually need the device though, as each bridge using it also uses cameras to read license plates. It's more convenient this way, as you just need to register your vehicle on their website.

Technically, CHP can give you a ticket if you use the FasTrak lanes without a FasTrack transponder, even though their computer system has no problems billing your account by license plate. I've heard of it happening online, but never seen them pull somebody over personally.

Since earlier this year, they are taking an alternate approach with the Golden Gate bridge, and have switched to electronic only tolls. So either you have fastrak, or when you drive across they photograph your license plate and mail you a bill. No more pay by cash, or differentiated lanes. I could see that becoming the norm.

Re: E-ZPasses Get Read All Over New York (Not Just At Toll Booths)

#55

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

refurb wrote: post #43
fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #29

As many have stated, this isn't news. There are all sorts of good and proper uses of toll-tags that aren't collecting tolls. There has never been any effort to hide that, nor should there be. The thing I have always been disturbed by WRT toll-tags is that toll-collecting entities flatly refuse to sell one that isn't attached to a person or a vehicle. There are opportunities for profit that have been ignored[1], and I…

The reason they link a tag to a car is because fees vary by vehicle type (number of axles). If the tags weren't linked to a vehicle, a commercial truck driver could simply buy a tag for a car and pay a whole lot less in tolls.

No, they couldn't because it would be immediately obvious from the camera footage. Photos are always taken, even when a tag is registered.

Re: E-ZPasses Get Read All Over New York (Not Just At Toll Booths)

#56

Post by teej »

pbreit wrote: post #28
dsl wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't keep plates on my car because of the abundance of plate tracking applications in use by the government and private companies.

Isn't that illegal pretty much everywhere?

I've found that it's loosely enforced in the Bay Area.

Re: E-ZPasses Get Read All Over New York (Not Just At Toll Booths)

#57

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

diminoten wrote: post #44
forgotAgain wrote: post #37

I have to disagree with those who say this isn't news. It was news to me and will, I believe, be news to most others as well. The only time before this that I heard about using EZ pass for anything other than tolls was a few years ago when I read about some feasibility work on the concept of traffic flow optimization being done around Ithaca, NY. I do wonder why they haven't been used yet to track speeding violations…

Why are you against having your car tracked? You're in public, aren't you? Why do you think you have a right to privacy in public?

What kind of stuff do you buy at stores? Mind if I have a look? I mean, you're in public when you buy the stuff. Please post your checking account and credit card statements in the reply. Thanks.

Re: E-ZPasses Get Read All Over New York (Not Just At Toll Booths)

#58

Post by gonnakillme »

PaulHoule wrote: post #36

You'll pull my E-Z pass out of my cold dead hands. This is the first piece of vehicle telematics I added when I got a new car. When I was stuck in a traffic jam at an off-ramp near Albany, I realized how I'd make it better for myself and other drivers if I got one. It's particularly good that E-Z Pass uses the same technology as most other states in the Northeast so you can drive the Mass Pike and out to Maine or the…

It even works in the midwest! I drove to upstate New York from Chicago without paying a single old-fashioned toll a few years ago.

Re: E-ZPasses Get Read All Over New York (Not Just At Toll Booths)

#59

Post by mrb »

tjohns wrote: post #30
Phargo wrote: post #8

Is there any way to install a switch to kill the tag when you don't plan on using it? If that's possible, how difficult would it be to control this on/off switch with a spare smart phone based on approved GPS location?

Here in the bay area, they give you a mylar/antistatic bag with new FasTrak transponders for precisely this purpose. Put the transponder in the bag, nobody can read it. (Also useful if you're using the new FasTrak-enabled carpool lanes in the east bay, when you actually have a carpool quorum and therefore are exempt from the toll.)

An on/off switch on the FasTrak transponder would be a lot more convenient than taking it out of or into a mylar bag... I have considered modifying mine with a switch.

Re: E-ZPasses Get Read All Over New York (Not Just At Toll Booths)

#60

Post by Retric »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #47
diminoten wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you against having your car tracked? You're in public, aren't you? Why do you think you have a right to privacy in public?

Can we just not go there? There is a qualitative difference between "being in public" and "being recorded while in public" and "being recorded in public over an extended period of time." You take a picture on the beach and catch me in the frame, I'm totally fine with that, you take pictures of that beach every day for a year and then put IDs on every 'face' so that you've got a history of everyone who has been to the…

FYI: You where just trolled. Sure, it feels go to respond, but it's also a waste of everyone's time to read a troll and the responses. It also promotes them making more comments like that.

Aka: Don't feed the trolls.

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