License Plate Scanners Coming To Your Neighborhood

Easton police will soon use license plate scanner for extra vigilance on the road
By Sarah M. Wojcik | The Express-Times

"A laptop inside the police car shows each vehicle logged in the equipment and a photo of the license plate. If the scanners pick up a license plate on the list, it alerts the officer in the vehicle."
I've spoken about this before. I previously pointed out that E-ZPass will shortly use this same technology. I also pointed out that many of the highway traffic cameras could potentially be equipped one day in the future as well.

One of the downsides to all of this may be the possibility that one day a huge database could be created to track where cars have been for whatever number of days. If proper software is one day developed it could be only a matter of punching in a license plate and coming up with every camera that spotted that plate previously. From red light cameras, to city cameras, cameras positioned on the interstate and toll roads.

Great for law enforcement, but what if some of this information were to be provided to lenders, private detectives in order to snag cheating spouses or bill collectors?

Allentown and Bethlehem police have some patrol cars already equipped. Most certainly a nationwide federal database is already in progress or can't be far behind. Will these new vehicle backup cameras one day also feed information?

Some cities already have Wi-Fi sniffers installed that record passing vehicles that are broadcasting signals for 'blue tooth' enabled vehicles which remind vehicle owners when it's time for maintenance or to alert them to some sort of mechanical problem. Some can even disable ignition systems.

'Smart cars', 'smart phones', 'smart TV's'. We already have 'smart' water and electric meters reporting back to utilities in real-time. 'Smart' medical monitors.

All of this 'smart' stuff snitching on people is way too over the top for my liking.

What's next 'smart' underwear?
Hey, don't laugh nothing is too crazy in this world anymore.