Obscuring License Plate

[Rtrorkt]

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/flock-police-cameras-scan-billions-month-sparking-protests-rcna230037

Seems more towns are employing this survelience. Having looked at the interweb there are many ideas of how to obscure you license plate from cameras. Anyone have a solution that works?

[Paul_Heery]

Of course obscuring your plate is illegal. It's been a big issue here in the NYC area for quite a while as a means of toll evasion. There are various covers that you can buy that filter the view of the plate from an angle and others that are just smokey plastic covers.

You can also buy magnetic leaves that you can attach to partially block sections of the plate. Some people have smeared mud or sticky substances on as well.

Probably the best way to block the view of your rear plate is to install a hitch on your car and always have a bike rack attached in the folded up position.

If your state requires a front plate, that's another issue entirely. You would need to check your local laws. Here in CT, a plate must be 'visible' from the front of the vehicle which allows you to place the plate on your dashboard. Some people just put it there upside-down. I wouldn't do that without making it immovable as there have been some nasty accidents where the plate took off flying like a frisbee during an abrupt maneuver.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

China
cameras everywhere
AI facial recognition
individual tracking

[Seahawk]

I did a quick search on this topic, which I had not really thought about in terms of "doing" it.

What I found interesting were the various legal sites that talked about the legality of certain types of LP obscuring that are not legal depending from State to State...

I have no issues with that particularly (States set there own speed limits, conceal carry, etc.), it just seems odd.

[faverymi]

Do you know that you have a smart phone that has been recording and storages all your personal information location etc etc for years now .

Just in case you are worried about big brother surveillance.

[Cairo94507]

When I see cars with obscured license plates, I just wonder how long before a LEO stops, tickets and possibly, impounds the car.

[GH85Carrera]

Oklahoma has a lot of Turnpikes. No stopping to pay a toll, even if you don't have the PikePass, just plate pay. Oklahoma was one of the first states to have an electonic pass system, and I have had one since the beginning. The plate pay is almost twice the cost of the PikePass to use the turnpikes, and the cost of the pass is free, just pay the tolls.

Lots of people are trying to evade the tolls with obscured plates. The turnpike folks think it is millions per year of lost tolls. The police are starting to get a bit more aggressive in enforcement on obscured tags. I saw one pickup that obviously drives on dirt roads a lot. The tailgate was just covered in red dirt, and the tag was impossible to tell what it was.

The most ironic part for me is my tags are always current. I bought several 2x4s at a big box store three miles away. The El Camino bed is not 8 feet long. so I had the tailgate down, and the wood secured with ropes and a bungee cord. As I pulled into my driveway a lady cop lit me up.

The tag is built into the indentation in the tailgate, so it was not displayed for my three mile trip home. I untied the wood, and raised my tailgate, and she just gave me a verbal warning to not drive with the tailgate down. I promised I would never do it again, and then ignored that promise. I have had to drive with a load that required the tailgate down a few dozen time in the 34 years of driving it for 390,000 miles.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by faverymi

Just in case you are worried about big brother surveillance.

Not me...I am under no such illusion.

Originally Posted by Cairo94507

When I see cars with obscured license plates, I just wonder how long before a LEO stops, tickets and possibly, impounds the car.

That was what prompted me to take a few minutes and, lookie here, just two of many options:

Ghostplate Vs. PlateVanish

https://platevanish.com/blogs/news/ghostplate-vs-platevanish-understanding-the-concept

Again, not for me, just interesting.

[Scott Douglas]

When my kids lived at home, I always insisted they run their front plates on their cars even though the 'cool' kids at school might not. I told them I didn't want them giving the police any excuses to pull them over.
They complied with my 'rule' since, well, they were living in my house.
Now that they're off on their own they can do as they please.
My so doesn't run a plate on his truck and I'm not sure about his wife's Q7.

When I worked at B***** up in El Segundo, I was warned that the ES police love to ticket cars without front plates, even if they're just parked on the street.
I made sure to keep front plates on both my Porsche's just in case I were to have to pickup parts in ES from our host when they were located there.

[Rick Lee]

Last time I was in China, the trick was to stick a CD onto the license plate. It didn't obscure the characters if a person was looking at it, but the reflection blinded the cameras. I'm sure they have improved on both sides since then. I'll be there in a month to see how they're doing it now.

[NY65912]

Pay for what is owed. You speed, red light etc, you pay, or don't do it in the first place . I see it all the time here in NYC. People trying to get over on the man, jerks.

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by NY65912

Pay for what is owed. You speed, red light etc, you pay, or don't do it in the first place . I see it all the time here in NYC. People trying to get over on the man, jerks.

That's not the argument. They have a pair of these facing in towards the local cash/debit discount grocer... Why?

I've seen one of these cameras 500 ft before the scale house camera array... Private corporations and/or those with cause would need warrants to access state/federal systems...

[Arizona_928]

Amazon's Ring Cameras Push Deeper Into Police and Government Surveillance

Ring has partnered with Flock Safety, making it easier for law enforcement to reach out to Ring doorbell and security camera owners to request footage.

https://www.cnet.com/home/security/amazons-ring-cameras-push-deeper-into-police-and-government-surveillance/

[Arizona_928]

A Denver woman says she was wrongfully accused of theft after police tracked her car using Flock cameras.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/police-flock-cameras-wrongfully-accuse-025738519.html

Police cameras tracked one driver 526 times in four months, lawsuit says
Flock Safety says it has become “the largest public-private safety network” in the country.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/virginia-police-used-flock-cameras-track-driver-safety-lawsuit-surveil-rcna230399

There's others showing LE felony stopping AI mistaken vehicles.

[dad911]

Bike racks, trailer hitch carriers, etc often block the rear plate. I wonder if that screws up the toll cameras.

[rcooled]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

...the trick was to stick a CD onto the license plate. .

Back in 2007, MythBusters tested the various methods available at the time for obscuring plates to beat speed cameras. Nothing worked, but there may be more sophisticated approaches out there now.

Here's a more recent look at the issue from 2024. All the things these guys tried are illegal and the only one that worked was a fake leaf sticker that covered part of the plate.

[porsche tech]

Probably 30 years ago or so, one of the techs in our shop was road testing someone’s Porsche after working on it. It had one of those blurring covers on the rear plate (VA) and LEO stopped him. Made him take it off of the plate and give it to him. Can’t believe I still remember that.

[Rtrorkt]

I was not looking to debate the legality obscuring my plate nor I am trying to get out of paying for running red lights, etc. But this current non-democratic arbitrary collection of personal information by for profit entities rubs me the wrong way. I can choose to switch off my phone, it is not practical to stop driving.

So I ask again, does anyone know of a method that seems to work?