From Trump campaign signs to Planned Parenthood bumper stickers, license plate readers around the US are creating searchable databases that reveal Americans’ political leanings and more.

  • @SSJMarx@lemm.ee
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    69 months ago

    I’ve heard of card counters getting stopped by security when they try to walk into a casino, there are definitely ways to “make” someone’s car and put it in a database but the tech is still spotty afaik.

    • @sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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      19 months ago

      card counters

      Yup, but these systems are a lot less sophisticated than many people make them out to be. It’s also not illegal to count cards, the casinos just aren’t big fans of losing money, so they’ll enforce their right to refuse service to anyone if they suspect you of counting cards.

  • Todd Bonzalez
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    279 months ago

    Mount an e-ink display with a rotating slideshow of different images on your car until they have a record of your car having thousands of different bumper stickers.

  • LousyCornMuffins
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    39 months ago

    there’s a town nearby with dispensaries that have some amazing deals. there also happen to be three red light cams and two license plate readers the have been reported to give their information to out of state agencies and ICE on the two other stoplights in town. You can’t convince me that’s not some kind of honeypot.

    • @Stonewyvvern@lemmy.world
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      49 months ago

      They literally scan your ID when you buy green in my state. They already know who you are and where you live. The cameras are to keep people honest (intimidated).

      • @tempest@lemmy.ca
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        39 months ago

        I mean in addition to all that even if they didn’t scan your id of you pay with anything but cash then the credit card company or bank knows and can be made to give up that info pretty easily.

        • @xthexder@l.sw0.com
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          49 months ago

          Not a single cannabis store that I know of in the US accepts credit card. They’re all cash only because the banks don’t want any part of it. (Technically it’s still federally illegal, and they don’t want to get in trouble as national business)

          • @BlitzoTheOisSilent@lemmy.world
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            29 months ago

            Not a single cannabis store that I know of in the US accepts credit card.

            False. Went to one in June, 2024, in New York City, right around Time’s Square, and the guy behind the counter asked if I was paying via cash, debit, or credit.

            I asked him about the credit option, and he said Visa has started working with some dispensaries and offering their credit services for payment. I even mentioned it to a dispensary employee in Maine (they only accept cash), and he said the same thing: Visa is the only one that’s barely starting to offer credit service for dispensaries.

            • Drusas
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              59 months ago

              That person was reporting their experience. It’s not false that they have not seen it. I haven’t, either.

            • @TK420@lemmy.world
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              09 months ago

              Lots of “stores” sell “weed” (delta 8) and that’s not illegal for credit cards.

              You are not buying real weed from a real dispensary in the US with a credit card, yet. One day, but if you aren’t paying cash, that’s a red flag.

              • @BlitzoTheOisSilent@lemmy.world
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                19 months ago

                Yep, that must be why I walked into a dispensary, that sold only recreational and medicinal marijuana to adults aged 21+, that checked all IDs at the door, and reverified them by the cashier. Then, after completing my transaction using a debit card, and having my aforementioned conversation with the cashier, who was wearing the identification as is required by all states with recreational marijuana on a lantern around their neck, and proceeded to leave with legitimate marijuana…

                I know delta 8 and all those substitutes. This was a legitimate dispensary advertising and using Visa for credit transactions for their purchases.

                Hence why I said they’re very barely doing so, but Visa appears to at least be starting to, and that your statement of “no store selling marijuana will use a credit care” was false.

          • @njordomir@lemmy.world
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            49 months ago

            I have seen many run it as an ATM transaction rounded to the nearest dollar and refund the change in cash. I saw this in two states.

            Having said that. I love cash only businesses. Visa and the other CC companies have way too much power. We should all go back to cash tomorrow, but we won’t.

            I ran a business, not weed related, that was cash only for the better part of 5 years. When I started taking cards I made sure cash and bitcoin were also options. The only downside was going to the bank every week to grab stacks of small bills for change. The upside was never having to deal with credit cards and every payment settling instantly when the cash changed hands. Under $100, cash is king.

              • @njordomir@lemmy.world
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                19 months ago

                Simply because most people won’t walk around with $100+ in their wallet. If you are specifically going to pay for something I guess cash is king until it hits 30-40lbs and gets harder to carry.

  • @SacredHeartAttack@lemmy.world
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    89 months ago

    I’ve never wanted to post signs in my yard or put stickers on my bumpers because I didn’t want PEOPLE judging me. And people are judgmental. Now I’m glad I had that opinion because we have to worry about computers logging us so we can be judged in the future for whatever weird reason someone comes up with?

    What happened to freedoms in America? It’s easy for a government to strip them after the people stop believing in them being important. Corporations are making free thought and self expression unimportant and dangerous and the gov’t will have no choice but to curb our freedoms in response. And we will cheer it on. I hate this shit.

    • @atrielienz@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      We got attacked and then in fear gave away our freedoms for the promise of more protections. There were people blowing the whistle each time but we ignored them. Patriot Act. Lobbying to not consider social platforms news aggregates. Lobbying to not pay news outlets, Lobbying to weaken anti-trust laws. Lobbying to kill legislation protecting children online. Lobbying against legislation to protect user privacy. Lobbying for the use of tech like facial recognition.

      This kind of thing has been happening for ages.

      • @Seleni@lemmy.world
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        49 months ago

        Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

    • @kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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      19 months ago

      What happened to freedoms in America? It’s easy for a government to strip them after the people stop believing in them being important.

      Add to that how much more difficult (and time consuming and expensive) it is to build/rebuild than it is to destroy and you’ve got a real problem on your hands.

  • @IMNOTCRAZYINSTITUTION@lemmy.world
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    59 months ago

    this kind of thing is why I do not advertise my politics at all. no bumper stickers or yard signs or campaign t shirts. im even registered without a party so you can’t look up my affiliation. and I don’t talk politics on the internet because nothing is truly anonymous. if someone wants to come after you they will be able to find you with enough effort.

    • shastaxc
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      89 months ago

      Sounds like you’re not loyal enough to The Party. If you were a good citizen, you wouldn’t have anything to hide. Throw him in the gulag!

  • @mctoasterson@reddthat.com
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    99 months ago

    This is and has been a big deal for a while. Do we really want easily trackable movements on every major road? What happens when they start feeding that data into federal fusion centers for cataloging and storage “just in case” they need it later?

    What happens when a regime that criminalizes dissent has access to realtime vehicular and individual (via mobile phone) tracking data?

  • @antlion@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    09 months ago

    I’m looking for some adversarial material - numbers and letters at various angles that I can stick to the left and right of my license plate. To a human it will be obvious which part is my license plate but it might be sufficient to confuse an ALPR algorithm.

    • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘
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      29 months ago

      The readers are smart enough to distinguish between them, so it won’t actually do what you want. You could try to flood the plate with IR and cover the plate with clear-to-human IR reflecting cover. Might work. Might not.

      • @antlion@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        29 months ago

        Readers are not smart. They are trained on data with license plates, and I doubt their training had license plates with extra characters on both sides.

        • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘
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          19 months ago

          The reader to which I was referring, is the entire system, to include the server-side processing. If it’s able to create a searchable db of political standings, we should assume it’s able to trim excess characters.

          However, I’m not telling you what to do at all. I don’t know how they operate; I’m just making assumptions based on what they said and my knowledge of the processes used. Basically, just adding to the general knowledge pool, so someone smarter than I will have more data to make a more informed decision.

          • @antlion@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            19 months ago

            The article gave me the opposite impression. Basically their database contains lawn signs and bumper stickers on accident - they save all images where text is found but they keep it just in case it had a license plate (because they aren’t sure what is or isn’t a license plate). These kinds of databases are so massive there’s little to no human eyes on images. Anyway I don’t think it would be very hard to send garbage into their database.

        • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘
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          19 months ago

          I don’t disagree. The reader to which I was referring, is the entire system, to include the server-side processing. If it’s able to create a searchable db of political standings, we should assume it’s able to trim excess characters.

          However, I’m not telling you what to do at all. I don’t know how they operate; I’m just making assumptions based on what they said and my knowledge of the processes used. Basically, just adding to the general knowledge pool, so someone smarter than I will have more data to make a more informed decision.

    • @RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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      59 months ago

      Some states require front plates.

      Blocking a plate with a bike rack isn’t a bad idea, except - a) the rack will wear your paint, b) any automated toll collection based on license plate reading will also be blocked. Probably NBD once in while, but if someone regularly skips tolls and is caught it’s gonna hurt. They just had a toll-skipper sting near me where they caught a crapton of people who regularly skipped tolls with license plate blockers and temp tags. They lost their cars instantly, a few got slapped with 6-figure fines and fees, and I imagine jail time might be on the menu for some.

      • @sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        29 months ago

        Ours apparently does, but nobody follows that law, and I’ve never seen it enforced.

        • a - easy fix, drive a beater
        • b - the only tolls in my area use a sensor

        If you didn’t want to use a tracking sensor for tolls, can’t you just pay cash? Whenever I visit Florida, that’s what I do. It sucks when the machine is busted, but then I just chuck my change at it and go.

    • @ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net
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      29 months ago

      I mean if you’re planning on doing all these weird work arounds, just get a fake plate/mess with your old plates so the letters are more difficult to read.

      • @Fedizen@lemmy.world
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        29 months ago

        this will make them more likely to pull you over: each license plate will add to the number of potential cars under a warrant. Imo just don’t use a car to commit crimes or get a ride.