• Carmakazi@piefed.social
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    2 days ago

    Didn’t Mythbusters test all of these covers and coatings in like 2004 and basically none of them worked against a traffic cam of that era?

    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      It’ll pretty much only do anything against a camera using a flash in the dark and even then that’s probably only marginal. In normal daytime illumination everyone and every thing will still be able to see your plate just fine.

      I think I’d rather get a color e-ink display from China and mount it in a fake license plate frame, with a microcontroller behind it displaying a random assortment of plate styles and numbers as you drive along. If you see the 5-0, flip a the switch to lock it to your real plate number until they go away.

      • imadethis@fedinsfw.app
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        2 days ago

        Unless your e-ink display has some pretty magical properties, it’s going to be spotted by a cop at random sooner or later, whether that’s at a traffic light, on the highway behind you, or even if they just roll by at a parking lot.

        Plus, I can assure you that the technology to instantly alert if a car shows a registration for, let’s say a blue honda, but looks like a red ford, has been around for longer than flock has been in the news. It’s why that shit with texas temporary license plates was such a big deal (you’d see them everywhere throughout the continent). Unless you have a way to know what other cars similar to yours have for their license plates, you’re going to get nabbed. And most places make your switching thing a pretty big deal as far as punishments go.

        • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Plus, I can assure you that the technology to instantly alert if a car shows a registration for, let’s say a blue honda, but looks like a red ford

          Ironically, I traded in my blue Honda for an orange Ford and drove it unregistered for almost an entire year and never got pulled over.

          Dealership said the would handle switching the plates and registration, and didn’t do it. I only found out when I went to renew my reg.

          • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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            19 hours ago

            I used to live in Louisiana and I drove there for three years with an expired out of state license plate and no insurance. Finally got pulled over, told the cops I just forgot about that stuff, and got off with a $125 ticket. If I’d had a bit more melanin I’d still be in Angola prison today.

            • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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              1 day ago

              No I did find it weird. I also found it weird that my DMV has a 6 hr wait time, and I had other shit to do with my life. Plus, I don’t really buy cars all that frequently, so I’m not exactly sure what to expect when the reg gets flipped over. It’s not out of the question to assume that it was done online. I never even got temp plates, the dealership said it would be fine to use my old plates.

  • turtlesareneat@piefed.ca
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    2 days ago

    The foolproof solution is to sneak up to the camera, at night, with no electronics on your person, and shoot the fucking thing down.

  • ramble81@lemmy.zip
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    2 days ago

    Flock also captures WiFi and Bluetooth MAC addresses and IMEI for cell signals. Even if they don’t get a license plate if your car has wireless CarPlay or Android Auto, if you’re connected via Bluetooth, if you have an in car hotspot, or if you have any connected services (remote start, phone app, traffic), they can track you by that.

    A license plate is no longer the only identifying piece of information.

    • LogicalDrivel@sopuli.xyz
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      1 day ago

      They profile more than just the bumper stickers. Faded paint, scratches, dents, one headlight has a foggy casing, tread patterns on tires, whatever they can to illegally track you.

  • RoidingOldMan@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    What the cops in NYC do is they wedge a leaf in the plate frame, so there’s always a leaf partially blocking 1 letter.