TECHDIRT | (Mis)Uses of Technology by Tim CushingWed, Oct 24th 2012
Sticking It To The (Camera) Man: Inventor Develops License Plate Frame That Defeats Red Light Cameras
Tech is all about disruption. When a problem presents itself, someone will find a way to route around it. Red light cameras, the controversial jackpot generators favored by certain law enforcement agencies, are the problem.
The solution? Jonathan Dandrow has developed noPhoto, which renders the pix snapped by those revenue-generating robo-cams useless.
The technology behind noPhoto is fairly simple. At the top of the gadget, which doubles as a license plate frame, there’s an optical flash trigger that detects the flash of the traffic-light camera. That trigger sets off one or both xenon flashes in the sides of the noPhoto, so when the traffic-light camera opens its shutter, there’s too much light and the picture of your license plate is overexposed.
Big Brother can’t read your plate. Some will argue that technology like this will only be used by scofflaws wishing to run red lights. But as the inventor points out, there's plenty of shady activity on the other side of the camera, not the least of which is some more erosion of civil liberties. “I just had a lot of reservations about the cameras,” Dandrow says. “They are trying to circumvent the constitution.”
As Gary Biller, the president of the National Motorists Association, recently wrote in U.S. News and World Report, traffic-light cameras violate “several key tenets of a citizen’s due process rights,” because there is “no certifiable witness to the alleged violation,” and so therefore, “the defendant loses the right to cross-examine his accuser in court.”
This isn't just an overreaction from minor league anarchists. Once the camera has "decided" you're guilty, that's it. Arguing your innocence is next to impossible... [REST OF STORY]
via www.techdirt.com
