Security Bullet In
Communiques from the security front, sir
Friday 2 October 2009, 5:23 PM
Wales to adopt mobile average-speed cameras
The cameras, which use automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) to gauge the average speed of a car between two points, will initially be mobile.
In May, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) admitted that police in the UK were swamped by the amount of data they were collecting.
PreviousComments on this post
Oh the joys of motoring! Give us some faster roads as well please....It's really all take take take.....
What a wonderful thing to hack into!
So if the same license plate appears on two cameras faster than they should, i.e. the driver has for certain exceeded the speed limit between those two points, does he get a speeding ticket? (How do you deal with the Tardis?)
You could sell information on the general where-abouts of certain philandering spouses.
Keep an eye on the coppers.
Find out where your neighbors actually go to work.
Watch for armoured cars and determine the route timings.
Locate cars worth stealing, especially when they go by the same cameras day after day, like on the way to or from work. Offer them for sale and then when a "client" makes a down payment, steal it and prep it for delivery. Call it a "moving used car lot" with constant inventory turnover.
Same thing goes for chop-shop operations. (Stolen car parts.)
You're an advertising flack. Instant demographic data. Next they'll be putting bluetooth transmitters on poles selling you what they think you'll buy based on your model of car. How'd you like a targeted advert right in your bluetoothed ear?
Then the government will get into the act. Just think, you're a politician now wanting to jack up taxes. Set up some cameras to find the best revenue generating future toll-roads. The model of cars prevalent during rush hours will tell you how much you can jack the tax up.
Somebody will figure out how to tie it in with Google Earth and Maps and generate a tracking application that's totally "passive". Passive meaning the target of the tracking action doesn't get pinged by a transmitter or a phone call. If they know where you are, they can use the municipal surveillance cameras to keep an eye on you as you get out of your car and walk to the office. Of course if they know your name from the license plates, they can look up your ID and your cell phone number and track you that way as well through the cell sites and the GPS in your phone.
Too paranoid? I don't think so.
No not too paranoid at all. Before long we'll be handing over our UK roads to the banks and they'll be running the tolls. Imagine the joy.
