Subject: Re: Infowar: pranks on county's Speed Cams






On Dec 22, 2008

WEB EXCLUSIVE -- Local teens claim pranks on county's Speed Cams
http://www.thesentinel.com/302730670790449.php
By Joe Slaninka


Special to the Sentinel




As a prank, students from local high schools have been taking advantage
of the county's Speed Camera Program in order to exact revenge on people
who they believe have wronged them in the past, including other students
and even teachers.


Students from Richard Montgomery High School dubbed the prank the Speed
Camera "Pimping" game, according to a parent of a student enrolled at
one of the high schools.


Originating from Wootton High School, the parent said, students
duplicate the license plates by printing plate numbers on glossy photo
paper, using fonts from certain websites that "mimic" those on Maryland
license plates. They tape the duplicate plate over the existing plate on
the back of their car and purposefully speed through a speed camera, the
parent said. The victim then receives a citation in the mail days later.




Students are even obtaining vehicles from their friends that are similar
or identical to the make and model of the car owned by the targeted
victim, according to the parent.


"This game is very disturbing," the parent said. "Especially since
unsuspecting parents will also be victimized through receipt of
unwarranted photo speed tickets.


The parent said that "our civil rights are exploited," and the entire
premise behind the Speed Camera Program is called into question as a
result of the growing this fad among students.


The Speed Camera Program was implemented in March of this year and used
for the purpose of reducing traffic and pedestrian collisions in the
county. Cameras are located in residential areas and school zones where
the posted speed limit is 35 miles per hour or lower. A $40 citation is
mailed to the owner of the car for violating the speed limit in these
areas.


The Montgomery County Police said they have not seen or heard of this
prank occurring but said they will keep an eye out for people committing
the crime.


"I hope the public at large will complain loudly enough that local
Montgomery County government officials will change their policy of using
these cameras for monetary gain," the parent said. "The practice of
sending speeding tickets to faceless recipients without any type of
verification is unwarranted and an exploitation of our rights."


Edward Owusu, Assistant Principal at Wootton High School, said that he
heard of local students pulling the prank when the school received a
call from a parent informing them of its occurrence. "I have not heard
of this happening among students at Wootton," Osuwu said. "It is
unfortunate that kids have a lot of time on their hands that they can
think of doing such a thing."


Montgomery County Council President Phil Andrews said that the issue is
troubling in several respects. "I am concerned that someone could get
hurt, first of all, because they are speeding in areas where they know
speeding is a problem," he said.


Andrews also said that this could hurt the integrity of the Speed Camera
Program. "It will cause potential problems for the Speed Camera Program
in terms of the confidence in it," he said.


He said he is glad someone caught it before it becomes more widespread
and he said he hopes that the word get out to the people participating
in this that there will be consequences.

__________________
Strelnik
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3 x Citroen DS21M, down from 5
3 x Citroen 2CV, down from 6

The people should complain loudly about the cameras being there in the first place, and not at the pranksters.

__________________
- Brian


1989 500SEL Euro
1966 250SE Cabriolet
1958 BMW Isetta 600

I heard that they tried these cameras in Texas years back. Didn't work out well as after drivers went through them they pulled over and shot them with rifles! That would be the best solution. RT

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Wow, thats right down the road. I have to say, pretty clever idea! Kids these days eh?

__________________


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past: 1969 280SE 4.5 | 1978 240D | 1978 300D | 1981 300SD | 1981 300SD | 1982 300CD | 1983 300CD | 1983 300SD | 1983 380SEC | 1984 300D | 1984 300D | 1984 300TD | 1984 500SEL | 1984 300SD | 1985 300D | 1986 300E | 1986 560SEL | 1986 560SEL/Carat | 1987 560SEC | 1991 300D 2.5 | 2006 R350

They've been using Adobe Photoshop on report cards for years.

That may be so but, red light cams are alive and well in Texas. There's one just down the road in Hutto...wouldn't ever get caught by it but the whole principle sucks eggs IMHO.

__________________
Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

I think the best solution to a speed camra is to simply pull over and quickly put a 30 06 round through it.

I hate these camra's, government abuse of power IMHO. If everyone simply destroyed them when they were installed we would save a small fraction of our waning liberty.

__________________
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__________________
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Dude the Dutch are so far ahead of you it isn't even funny....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSguQg_bK38
(Skip ahead to about a minute)

__________________
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"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

Cool, I didn't know Clarkson spoke Dutch.

Hmmm...maybe there is hope for the future in the younger generation. There obviously isn't any in ours, which allowed these infernal devices to become legal in the first place. These "robots" - and that's what they are, robots - are inherently unconstitutional, and the laws have been gerrymandered around this "annoying problem" (the ticket becoming a "civil" matter, not counting against your driving record, and so on). Please note that I am not condoning speeding or going through red lights - I was actually involved in an accident years ago by an idiot going through a red light. He protested that I hit him, which I did! Fortunately, HUMAN witnesses saw what actually happened.

Interestingly, as technology becomes more sophisticated, it is also becoming less credible as a provider of facts. A high-tech for its time photo was worth a lot in a courtroom 50 years ago...what it is worth now? Not a damn thing, unless accompanied by human witnesses, chain of custody, proof of legitimacy, and so on. And the arms race between image fakers and fake image detection is reaching new heights constantly.

__________________
86 560SL
With homebrew first gear start!
85 380SL
Daily Driver Project

http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl/mercedes.htm

It sounds like some good fodder for a defense attorney to use in that story. I have mixed feelings about those cameras. People around here run red lights all the time. There are lots of bad wrecks at the end of my street where people run that light going 40-50 MPH. There is even a delay between the light turning red in one direction before it turns green the other direction, and yet there are still wrecks.

OTOH it is very "Big Brotherish."

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On the other side of the Pond motorists take revenge on the money-making machines.

is this VANDALISM OR SELF-DENFENSE? I particularly liked the two guys on a motorcycle on page 4 trying to pull the damned thing over.....


.

__________________
Deltacom ~ Absit Iniuria Verbis ~

In the early 1970's these cameras were placed along State Highway 303 in Arlington, Tezas, which is also known as Pioneer Parkway. They were made by LTV Inc. and were called "The ORBIS". They are still mounted at DFW International on the service roads but I do not know if they are operational.

(Anyone who drives 303 today would wonder why they would put these cameras on such a busy road, but in 1970 this area was so out in the middle of nowhere that 303 was used mostly as a drag-strip by teenagers.)

The ORBIS system does not use RADAR. It uses sensors embedded in the street to detect an objects speed.

An LTV engineer told me they were removed from the highway housings on the medians for several reasons. First, people threw bricks at the camers from moving cars and those that hit destroyed a $35,000 camera. The solution to this was lamainated glass about three inches thiick.

Then people started to shoot through them through the sides. Thicker steel stopped this.

Another problem was people would hit them with their cars, or just back into them and bend them over so they took pictures of the ground.

Then folks just started painting over the lens. There was no way to stop this, so the cameras were moved to the back of vans and these were called "The Moving ORBIS".

Well, this defeated the program since even thought the stated reason for the cameras was safety they quickly became a cost liability. Now a van was involved and that meant that someone had to drive it and lay out the sensors on the highway. That meant stopping traffic so the sensors could be calibrated.

When the ORBIS caused the city to lose money on its' operation it was discontuned.

There was also an attorney that was known for 'living large' that was caught on one of these. The photo was mailed to his house where his wife opened the letter and saw a photo of him with a female 'client' sitting beside him. This was nothing new to her, but it gave him the chance to launch an 'Invasion of Privacy' suit against the city. I don't know how this came out or it it had any bearing on the cameras being removed, but it was one more hassal for the city from a system that was sold as being hassal free.

A friend of mine got a ticket in the mail from one of these. The plate number matched the one on his truck which had been sitting behind his house for ten years. He refused to pay; they said they would come tow the truck away. He asked them to provide the photo of HIS 1965 Chevy speeding and he would send them double what they were asking for. He never heard back from them.

It turns out, in his case, the tickets were being issued by a private contractor to either the City of Dallas or the Turnpike Authority (I forget which) concerning toll runners on the North Dallas Tollway. This got all sticky in a legal way and I think the city now operaties this in a somewhat different way.

I know in Houston a private company put up the red-light running cameras and then took a few down when they were not paying for themselves. I almost agree with this as there are sure a lot of people in Houston that run red lights.

The LTV guy told me the oddest thing they ever picked up on the camera was a guy doing 85 mph on a 15 speed bike.

I am sure things have improved in this area since the ORBIS system was introduced about 38 years ago. It might not have been the success everyone was hoping for, but it was a good learning tool. So...

Remember: Big Brother is watching!

Pooka

It'll be so easy to catch these kids. Some kid will blab and these kids will find themselves charged with a felony.

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