mmarshall

I'm with bitkahuna on this one. I fail to see where this "gives up" freedom. A camera that simply records your license number does nothing to prevent you from driving in or out of the town as many times as you want, especially if you have nothing to hide and obey the town's traffic laws. The police, camera or not, already have the record of every (legally) licensed driver in the U.S. on their computers, so the cameras don't tell them or add anything except that you (or someone driving your car) went into and out of the town. Big deal. I couldn't care less. In fact, I agree that, in certain circumstances (providing the plates weren't changed or sprayed with Photo Blocker), it can help the police track stolen vehicles. Driving, BTW, has never been a Constitutional "right"....legally, in all 50 states, it is a priviledge.

LexFather

^^ I don't believe in that. I can see some unlucky sap driving though the town getting his plate recorded and it happens to be the same night of a murder.

Its not like our govt/police are some trustworthy or super ethical structure so they end up just blaming this innocent man b/c he happened to be there and well there was a murder. God forbid he has something on his record like fighting at a bar misdemeanor or something.

THERE IS A RIGHT TO PRIVACY that continues to turn into THE RIGHT TO KEEP YOU IN CHECK AND ON CAMERA AND TO KNOW YOUR WHEREABOUTS.

"Who watches the watchers"?????

mmarshall

That's what we have courts for. They, of course (especially the Federal courts), in our system, are the ultimate determinant of the constitutional boundaries of privacy, law enforcement, priviledges, and rights.

Those who feel that the town's policy is unconstitutional can file suit and have it subjected to a judicial review. It happens every day.

LexFather

Our court system is not perfect either. I would hope someone stands up for their rights and does take it to court.

Rather I wish the majority would move, it becomes a ghost town and the people who wanted this see the error of their ways.

Sadly that won't happen as we have become so complacent and the people in office KNOW THIS.

mmarshall

To some extent, that is happening. CA has gotten just too expensive, too restrictive, and too poorly-run, financially, for some people. They are starting to move out of the state. State-run agencies are already giving out IOU's because the state is, technically, broke.

IS-SV

Yes, this has been happening for years. Las Vegas is full of people that escaped southern California, because LA is a cruel place to live on a low or modest income.

But for the highly educated or highly skilled, very talented, extremely motivated and hard-working it is a lucrative and rewarding place to live and work. Unfortunately very few of those types work for the California government or any state government nationwide.

IS-SV

I will be in Tiberon for a couple days in mid-September driving a Mercedes and I have no plans to cover my plates in fear.

Faymester

What if they walk in ... rob you of all your jewels and take your Massi on the way out ... then you'll have an awesome last pic of your car as it speeds off

SoCalSC4

This is rubbish... all this can tell authorities is what cars came into town.

At what point does this become ridiculous? As soon as "authorities" start implanting data/GPS chips in all humans?

Start with getting residents to lock their homes and cars, fellas.

I don't like it as it smacks of big brother.

On the other hand, I can simply NOT GO to that silly town.
Or, take my plates off.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

except liberty has NOTHING to do with privacy.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

dream on, there is NO right to privacy.

consider this - many (all) u.s. airports now get fingerprints of anyone with a foreign passport. and for damn everyone is captured on camera. smart move, or invasion of privacy? i say smart move! and that video is almost certainly correlated now using face recognition software with a database of known bad persons for matches and follow-up. related story

that's very true. EVERYTHING ultimately rests on the level of integrity and honesty in society, business, personal, and particularly government.

and that's why we will continue to see 'the rise of the machines' because ONLY computer systems can watch enough inputs quickly enough to correlate and find suspicious activity to alert people and that includes watching the watchers. important agencies take the attitude of 'trust no one' and build systems appropriately.

and ONLY technology can bring about improved law enforcement. we've seen how "eye witnesses" are unreliable (thank you DNA). we've seen how police can abuse their power (thank you dashboard cameras, security cameras, cell phones, etc.). a cop pulling someone over relies more on technology (look up of car/driver through computer) than anything else, and thank goodness, many wanted criminals are caught this way.

yes there's ALWAYS risks, but one hopes the good guys and actions outweigh or stop the bad guys.

you might consider reading "world without secrets" by richard hunter.

and finally, consider that people on the internet for example, willingly give up TONS of privacy, having NO idea how the information will be used.

privacy is overrated!

Byprodrive

iTrader: (1)

I am usually against any invasion of privacy & I fight to preserve freedom. (already own the finest shotgun available at great personal expense)
But I have zero problem with license plate scanners, I see them at several gated communities here in O.C. CA and they are quite painless unless you are observant or guilty you will never be aware the cameras exist.