rasmack 0 #1 February 10, 2009 ... or am I being paranoid? I am presently living in Geneva (Switzerland, not Illinois), and I just found out that the authorities here maintain an sms service I have not seen anywhere else. You just text a license plate number of a car to 939 and then they send you the name and address of the owner. I fully appreciate that the police should have access to information like that, otherwise there would be no point in license plates at all. I do, however, feel that there should be a certain threshold of work required for people to identify me in the street. Also, I see potential security issues for women or elderly people in expensive cars. Anyway, back to the original question: Am I being paranoid?HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227 “I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.” - Not quite Oscar Wilde... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
labrys 0 #2 February 10, 2009 QuoteAnyway, back to the original question: Am I being paranoid? Not in my opinion. That seems like an absolutely horrible idea and an extreme breach of privacy.Owned by Remi #? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnRich 4 #3 February 10, 2009 Quotethe authorities here maintain an sms service... What's "SMS"? Most states have privacy laws to prevent that. Here in Texas, a private individual can get that info, but you have to claim that it's for "safety reasons", and then your name goes in a log so that if anything happens to that person, they can find out who was tracking them down. I've done that process a few times. For example, one night I observed a teen driving very dangerously over a long period of time. I took down his plate number, traced it, and wrote a letter to his parents letting them know what their son was doing when they weren't looking. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mnealtx 0 #4 February 10, 2009 SMS = short message service. Basically, mobile phone texting.Mike I love you, Shannon and Jim. POPS 9708 , SCR 14706 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rasmack 0 #5 February 10, 2009 QuoteMost states have privacy laws to prevent that. Yep, but here it is the state (Swiss: canton) providing the "service". The only reason I heard of it was a story on the radio that a court had upheld the legality of the system in the face of a privacy/security based challenge. QuoteHere in Texas, a private individual can get that info, but you have to claim that it's for "safety reasons", and then your name goes in a log so that if anything happens to that person, they can find out who was tracking them down. All this is fine by me. A register has to be in some way accessible to make sense. I would just like to see the bar raised a little higher than simply sending a text message. I tried texting them my own license plate and within 20 seconds I got a message back with my name and address. Kind of creepy...HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227 “I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.” - Not quite Oscar Wilde... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lastchance 0 #6 February 10, 2009 Wow. So when somebody cuts you off in traffic you can instantly get their name and address and go to their home and pound the piss out of them. That sounds like a little more info than the common person should have. I may be getting old but I got to see all the cool bands. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rasmack 0 #7 February 10, 2009 QuoteWow. So when somebody cuts you off in traffic you can instantly get their name and address and go to their home and pound the piss out of them. That sounds like a little more info than the common person should have. Indeed, and you had better not look like an easy mark with money to the prospective burglar. Pretty girls should probably also think twice about driving...HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227 “I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.” - Not quite Oscar Wilde... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kelpdiver 2 #8 February 10, 2009 QuoteQuoteWow. So when somebody cuts you off in traffic you can instantly get their name and address and go to their home and pound the piss out of them. That sounds like a little more info than the common person should have. Indeed, and you had better not look like an easy mark with money to the prospective burglar. Pretty girls should probably also think twice about driving... A model was killed this way in California. After that, the DMV substantially changed the policy and process on which it would give out this sort of information, including notification of the subject. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnRich 4 #9 February 10, 2009 QuoteWow. So when somebody cuts you off in traffic you can instantly get their name and address and go to their home and pound the piss out of them. That sounds like a little more info than the common person should have. On the other hand, if every driver knows you can instantly get that information, it might make for more polite drivers. Anonymity is what makes people act like asses. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
