
License plate recognition tools led to abduction arrest - gibsonf1
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/13/MNJFSO1NM.DTL
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zandorg
I have produced license plate recognition software, at least enough to extract
the plate text for subsequent OCR'ing.

Paul Graham/Ycombinator weren't interested, so I gave up on trying to sell it.

In theory, you could setup a webcam in a back garden and scan all the traffic
going past in realtime.

I am now working on other software, which is a shame, as Pretext is pretty
nifty.

<http://www.sanfransys.co.uk/> (not a US company)

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abstractbill
Surely this technology is fairly well-known and widely deployed these days
(for example, to enforce the London congestion-charging zone). What did your
software do over and above what's currently being used?

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zandorg
It runs easily on personal computers, and because the development costs were
low, it's cheap. So I was trying to compete on price and accessibility.

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gibsonf1
Call me sentimental, but this technology sounds like something right out of
Bladerunner. In the wrong hands, this could get scary (ie. if a govt. was
looking for a fleeing political prisoner, etc.)

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geek42
Some things that are technical possible and even cool are still "evil". I
realize someone is probably going to do them any way, but it's sure as hell
not going to be me.

This thing would be a great bomb trigger too by the way.

