

California license plates might go digital, show ads - stretchwithme
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100621/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_techbit_electronic_license_plates;_ylt=Ai1gpy3oXLxMa9aEBCXdk9AjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTM5ZzRwcTEzBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNjIxL3VzX3RlY190ZWNoYml0X2VsZWN0cm9uaWNfbGljZW5zZV9wbGF0ZXMEY3BvcwMyBHBvcwM0BHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA2NhbGlmbGljZW5zZQ--

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andre3k1
Serious question: shouldn't the owner of the vehicle be allowed to receive a
share of the profits?

At the end of the day, the liability associated with these "ads" falls on
whom: the state or vehicle's owner?

Mind you, I think this is the most retarded idea ever.

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sliverstorm
No, the DMV will claim the plates are their property. Currently the plate is
just a way to ID yourself, like the Driver's Licence.

Legislation like this will change things, and the DMV will declare they own
the licence plate, the same way Microsoft claims they actually own the Xbox in
your living room.

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anigbrowl
You are right, and I don't know why you were downvoted: this is the claim that
would be made, and it would be asserted as the reason you are not allowed to
take your blue-on-white license plate and repaint it to be hot pink on lime
green (at least, not while it's mounted to your vehicle).

However, I don't think this idea will go anywhere, since it potentially
creates all sorts of first-amendment issues - you love coke but your plate
keeps showing ads for Pepsi, as it were; as DMV is a state agency they are
subject to constitutional limitations, and as the owner/occupant of a vehicle
people are inevitably going to associate any license plate messages with you,
so forcing you advertise something you don't like (or indeed to advertise at
all) is arguably an infringement on your freedom of speech.

I'm all for creativity and lateral thinking, but I think this is a really,
really stupid idea - it's straight out of _Idiocracy_. The sad irony is that
while the idea is a suggestion for balancing the state budget, it's taking up
resources being proposed and debated in the legislature, and if it passes it
will take up resources in the conduct of feasibility studies.

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chaosmachine
"In emergencies, the plates could be used to broadcast Amber Alerts"

Classic...

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_children_%28reasoning%2...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_children_%28reasoning%29)

~~~
RK
Or if there is an alert out to stop your car, they can switch it to start
flashing, etc.

Seems like a bit of technology would need to be developed to make this cost
effective (assuming some sort mobile data is needed).

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pook
How long before someone hacks this to flip off the other drivers in style?

This is definitely one of the least thought out proposals I've heard in a
while. At least when it gets completely subverted, it will only embarrass
those responsible rather than introducing catastrophic data loss as with the
proposed Internet Kill Switch.

[flick switch] "FUCK... YOU... FUCK... YOU"

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WTFmemphis
Moveover, can the lawyers amongst us murmur aloud the state of regulation in
the 'physically' mobile advertising market? Such as how alternating
'windowshade' ads atop pickup trucks differ from location targeted LED/LCD
signs in Taxi roofboxes in the eyes of 'The Law'? Shouldn't the DMV/NHTSB
already have a stance on this?

It seems with the advent of large format E-Ink displays, plastering the back
of a Semi-trailer with a 4x8 'film', a solar panel+battery pack, a camera and
an friendly mobile OS - one could collect CPM based on all sorts of things.
Weather, type of vehicle(s) trailing, number of passengers, distance behind,
'txt trivia' for Corporate 'points', and so on. All without being much of a
nuisance to passers by..

Alternatively, what fines should be imposed for more 'rogue' implementations?
High enough to offset any potential gain? Will that stifle stranger, consumer
driven things from happening? If and when you start offering CPM kickbacks to
the cellphone bills of those in the Donk/Lowrider/SUV 'urban crowd' that
cruise nightly around impressionable youth with multiple large, externally
visible LCDs showing everything from Pr0n [1], local rap promo videos, and
Blue Clues. One needs only a phone with a 'video out' capacity and creating a
local Pandora'esque App playing 'underground' music could be fed by cheap
embedded servers placed outside of bars, sports venues, and less scrupulous
places. As 'data package' prices reamin high, and smarter phones trickle
down....public hotspots (and exploitation) that _don't_ connect to the
internet make sense.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, as Soccer Mom's queue in line to pick up
their children? While immoral to a degree, the unused LCDs in the back of a
ML450 (or schoolbus) could serve ads, school updates, etc. No one is moving
and it's usually on private land. No one can really regulate that. Right?

I already dread billboard obscured sunsets on the drive home, I am of the
opinion (electric) roadside advertising should be regulated to some degree and
a more public discourse on how 'public' land is used. Hopefully someone soon
will do a study strapping eye tracking software to a large set of drivers to
measure how disorienting erratic light from advertising and other sources can
be. Someone will die (<blink> tag induced seizure?), much fuss will be made,
and a law 'in honor of XYZ' will pass and perhaps something will be done about
it.

:shrug:

[1]
[http://www.law.northwestern.edu/lawreview/v100/n2/999/LR100n...](http://www.law.northwestern.edu/lawreview/v100/n2/999/LR100n2Wilson.pdf)

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jlangenauer
I'm reminded of a quote of David Ogilvy, of the ad agency Ogilvy and Mather:

"As a private person, I have a passion for landscape, and I have never seen
one improved by a billboard. Where every prospect pleases, man is at his
vilest when he erects a billboard. When I retire from Madison Avenue, I am
going to start a secret society of masked vigilantes who will travel around
the world on silent motorcycles, chopping down posters by the dark of the
moon. How many juries will convict us when we are caught in these acts of
beneficent citizenship?"

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callmeed
"Interested advertisers would contract directly with the DMV"

Me: hi, I'd like to purchase some ads

DMV Guy: Please complete form LPA17 and get in _that_ line

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edmccaffrey
I know that billboards and many other things already distract drivers, but
another distraction that encourages them to get too close to be safe seems
plain idiotic.

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cdawzrd
So now, even when the robber's car stops, the security cameras won't be able
to get a clear image of the tag number. Awesome.

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stretchwithme
as if there aren't enough distractions on the road already.

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Mahh
Further new ways of creating disruptive easy advertising that doesn't do much
to make people really want the product.

I can't quite imagine what the senator was imagining this to turn out as

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Natsu
> I can't quite imagine what the senator was imagining this to turn out as

A campaign donation from the company that wants to sell them, I would imagine.

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rjett
Reading the title, I thought they might be doing something smart, perhaps
using RFID tags or something similar to cut down on plate manufacturing costs
and to make the registration renewal process more streamlined.

Nope, it turns out they're just trying to commoditize plate real estate. For a
state that makes it a illegal to have a cell phone against your ear while
driving, I don't see this passing. Then again, they are $19 billion in debt.

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sliverstorm
Oh god _facepalm_

