
Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet - elliekelly
https://postmediadriving.wordpress.com/auto-news/news/students-defeat-new-barnacle-parking-boot-skip-fines-and-get-free-internet
======
emptybits
I spent a decade in the parking technology space. (Co-founder PayByPhone --
don't hate me, I genuinely tried to make things more civilized and convenient,
I swear!). Anyways, I miss hearing about hilarious and genius hacks and
escalations like this. The brilliance deployed to work around parking
regulations is amazing.

Not condoning, but here's a (naive?) though experiment if the Barnacle shows
up in use again... Park your car and cover it. Many car covers have cable
locks to prevent removal and openings to expose plates for legal/bylaw
reasons, so this should be permissible. This may provide protection from sun,
frost, birdshit, and now Barnacles(tm)! My assumption is that parking
enforcers don't have permission to modify, remove, or damage property on a
parked car like this.

Of course, there's always a tow-truck. Or you could pay for the parking you
use, but I respect the hacker spirit!

~~~
quaquaqua1
The problem is not paying for the parking I use. That is an easy problem to
solve, as long as the price is "reasonable".

The problem I have with parking authorities is fraud. When the meter employee
gives me a ticket for a different meter, or when the parking ticket fine is
$200 instead of say $30, or when the restrictions are absurd/vague ("You can
park here for 2 hours m-f except holidays except 9-11 except in green spots
except you have to display the ticket in your window except you need to be 6
inches but not 12 inches from the curb except except except except")...

... then this is the part where I start to suspect I'm not paying for the
parking I'm using, but instead I am paying for someone else's large and
undeserved profit.

~~~
javiramos
The other day I went to a concert and parked my car at a parking lot. When the
concert ended, of course there were masses of people trying to exit the
parking lot. There were only 2 cashiers to pay the parking ticket — no
automated machines. So we waited over an hour to pay our ticket. Time that we
ended up paying with our ticket (per hour parking). The cashier didn’t want to
refund us for the waiting time. If the law doesn’t require any standards
requiring waiting times — why would a parking operator ever be incentivized to
have an efficient checkout system? Especially if they are the only parking in
town. Anyways lots of sketchy consumer violations in this space.

~~~
hanniabu
While I agree that's a hassle, I don't think this should result in a refund.
It's like ordering dinner, eating it, and then wanting a refund for the meal
because you waited a long time for the meal.

~~~
ppseafield
I think the OP meant they were charged for the extra hour they spent waiting
in line trying to exit.

~~~
hanniabu
Oh I see, thought that they didn't think they should pay just because there
was a long line to get out.

------
bredren
My SUS company, EasyALPR focuses on commercial parking enforcement / vehicle
control.

First, the people who get "in trouble" are often absolutely brazen in their
unfair use of common parking. They're warned multiple times and even when
given a "last chance" notice they'll just keep breaking rules.

At that point you have to TOW them. And let me tell you, a TOW is something
you can't lampoon or get free internet off of. Towing SUCKS and drivers bend
the knee after this happens. I have data to prove it!

Anyhow, another thing about these folks is that they will go so far as to
dispute that the vehicle was in fact in violation of whatever parking rule.

They'll say the warnings were not real and the tow reason was definitely not
real. They'll tell the business IT needs to pay for the tow. Well, their faces
change when confronted with photos and maps and times showing each violation!

It isn't really that funny, but it is a big deal to any facility because some
low-level administrator has to face some really pissed off people who will
break rules and lie because it has always worked. So it is really important to
give them great evidence so there isn't really a discussion needed.

If you want to check out my product, here's the landing page:
[https://easyalpr.com/products/parking-
enforcer](https://easyalpr.com/products/parking-enforcer)

~~~
rectang
Not all heroes wear capes. Thank you on behalf of all those administrators
having to deal with the abuse!

PS: Do you have stats on the overlap between parking violators and people who
refuse to pick up after their dogs?

~~~
ratww
> Not all heroes wear capes

The best ones do, however:

[http://heroesinthenight.blogspot.com/2012/08/angle-
grinder-m...](http://heroesinthenight.blogspot.com/2012/08/angle-grinder-man-
legacy-continues.html)

~~~
rectang
I'll be rooting for the real hero EasyALPR to clean up the neighborhood and
_tow_ these caped croutons.

------
hn_throwaway_99
OK, the actual design of the thing where it just uses suction is incredibly
idiotic, but the kid who got free wireless internet for months by taking its
sim card - that's pretty brilliant.

~~~
Jamwinner
The alternative, tire boots, are equally asinine and more likely to damage the
car. These seem fractionally better up to the point where they are hacked.
Unessarily connected devices are a liability beyond measure, and it floors me
that nobody seems to notice.

~~~
nickysielicki
This is a stupid question, but something I’ve always wondered about is how tow
trucks disengage the clutch and/or the parking brake... am I to understand
that they simply don’t? So if I park my manual transmission car in reverse and
with the parking brake on, they’re just going to literally drag my car to
their lot or destroy my gearbox? How is this not a bigger issue?

~~~
sojournerc
Depends on the car and where it's drive wheels are. Also I think tow drivers
are authorized to use a tool to break in to the car (non destructively) to put
it in neutral if necessary.

~~~
jimktrains2
Aside: if you ever notice a teeny tiny panel that has a dimple or hole to open
it with by the shifter, that's the release for the interlock that prevents
changing gears without the keys. That's how you get in neutral when the owner
isn't present.

------
nimbius
When I first saw these touted a few years ago I'd imagined they would be
fairly trivial to bypass.

\- light oil or penetrating oil can be used to bypass the gasket. If it will
remove decals or stickers, this thing doesnt stand a chance.

\- exploiting the coefficient of expansion for gasses (as these brilliant
students did) is absolutely an option.

\- keeping your windshield wipers up would prevent use of the device.

\- running some 4lb test fishing line taped against your windshield would
allow, once placed, the gasket to be defeated by just lifting up on it.

and as always, remember, manufacturers are bound to use a specific set of
locks and bolts. Torx security are inexpensive and a barrel lock impression
tool is about ten dollars.

disclosure: As an automotive mechanics apprentice, ive had to remove way more
tenacious crap from windshields than this thing.

~~~
StavrosK
> keeping your windshield wipers up would prevent use of the device.

Until the person putting the thing on just raised them.

------
crystaldev
There's an entire industry of selling snake-oil Batman shit like this to law
enforcement/mall cops. It's a delightful fusion of ill will, they operate with
minimal oversight and get to take advantage of government (procurement), law
enforcement (mostly ignorant of tech), _and_ the good 'ol citizenry (cast as
cattle as usual).

I love how, when one of these places recruits you, it takes forever to learn
what they're about, because their website is nothing but euphemisms.

------
jlarocco
Am I the only one who thinks this is wrong? An alternative headline could be
something like, "Entitled College Kids Learn How To Keep Parking Like Assholes
Without Paying Fines."

And it's a pyrhic victory anyway, because chances are now the cars will get
one of the metal tire boots put on, or get towed. Both of which are more
expensive and a bigger hassle for everybody.

~~~
hanniabu
The issue I have is cases like at my school where they basically had
entrapment. At the start of every year there'd be like 2-3 months where it's a
free for all and students could park wherever. The certainty was nowhere near
adequate parking and not everywhere that people parked was readily obvious to
be illegal. Some spots had the yellow on the curb worn away 90%, others were
things like too close to a corner or hydrant by everyone was doing it those
2-3 months that you get used to it and think it's okay and when there's no
other spots left you park in one of those spaces (kind of like when people
start creating a new parking lane in the center of a full parking lot).

After a few months of no enforcement and letting the students get used to
parking like this, then they'll crack down with brutal enforcement. I'm
talking about them sniping you a few minutes after you walk away. Every year
they'd reset and do the same thing over again to get some fresh meat.

~~~
jimktrains2
That's not entrapment.

Entrapment is the state coercing someone to do something they would not do
under normal circumstances. It sounds to me as if these people are illegally
parking under normal circumstances. The rules about curbs, hydrants,
driveways, &c are well known and common enough between every state that there
is no excuse that they weren't aware this was illegal.

~~~
nickthemagicman
A trap is something easy to get into but hard to get out of.

They made the parking rules unclear and never enforced them then cracked down
brutally.

~~~
jimktrains2
Which is exactly why you're able to speed with impunity, even if you receive a
ticket for it?

Most places do not make the rules unclear and many rules brought up in the
subthread, e.g. hydrants and parking near an intersection, are well known and
common among the states.

Look, I'm not saying that basically giving everyone a month with no warnings
and then going out in force isn't a crappy thing to do. I'm just saying that
that's not entrapment, nor is an an awful thing for the police to do, even if
there are nicer ways to do it, e.g. giving notices on windshields for the
first week of the semester and afterwards being issuing tickets.

------
WarOnPrivacy
Learning to solve IRL problems - that absolutely need solving - is why we send
them to college.

I couldn't be more proud.

~~~
xyst
meh - one can argue with the advent of the internet the entire college system
is a farce. College at this point is just for building your network and
securing that “dream job” because employers like to check off those boxes
instead of actually finding qualified applicants.

Although there is one thing that you can’t teach or learn which is having
common sense or the ability to apply theories in practice.

~~~
the8472
People still need motivation to learn. Just because the knowledge is available
doesn't mean they'll ingest it on their own. College may provide a structured
environment helping with that. Or in this case a different kind of motivation
to learn.

~~~
yellow_lead
I do think paying for something is a great motivator. When you pay for
college, the risk of failing is you wasting your money. When you pay for
therapy, the risk of not doing as the therapist suggests is you wasting your
money as well.

Of course, I dont think college needs to be on the "life-crippling debt" scale
of payment for this to work.

------
lxchase
At another university, if you were a TA, you would have a “faculty” account
flag, which would give you another option to pay any parking fines—deduction
from your paycheck. Except TAs don’t have paycheck. The system would deduct
from 0, and would not go negative but still count the fine as paid.

------
ISL
Like adversaries who attempt to outrun a radio, "outsmarting" law enforcement
who have your license-plate number is a generally poor strategy.

Likewise, putting the police-department's SIM in your phone has some pretty
clear downsides.

~~~
eptcyka
I don't believe campus police actually has any legal power. It also isn't the
police department's SIM card, Barnacle owns it - of course it's still
considered theft.

~~~
imglorp
It's worse than legal trouble. They hold your graduation until you return all
library books, pay all debts, fines, and interest, etc etc.

~~~
Scoundreller
The usual trick is to drive someone else’s car. (Mom’s or dad’s).

------
rkhacker
Thanks so much to the university for coming up with the barnacle or I would
have missed these really brilliant hacks that seemed to keep improving one
after the other. Parking 12 scrappy car was so low-tech and yet so effective
but juicing the sim card for months has to be appreciated for going the extra
mile.

------
cortesoft
> Obviously, some students thought that fee was ridiculous – just like paying
> for parking at a university where you’re already paying a hefty tuition fee

I hate parking fees as much as the next person, and totally appreciate the
creativity of the people who defeated this device.

However, how should we handle distributing a limited number of parking spaces
when there are more people who want to park than available spaces?

If we just say "free to park anywhere!", then there is a good chance you come
to school and can't park anywhere (especially if you are not there super
early)

You could do a lottery, I guess, but then people who don't need parking might
enter the lottery and then sell their spot... making parking even more
expensive.

Parking fees seem like a fair way to distribute the limited resource.

~~~
appleiigs
Isn’t “first come first serve” fair?

~~~
g82918
Imagine a doctor working at two hospitals who has to move his car from one
location to the other mid-day between surgeries. Is it more fair for him to
have a worse parking spot and take longer to get to the operating room because
he didn't park there earlier? Or should spots be given based on need?

~~~
lostlogin
Repeat that but with a cleaner who is struggling to get by with 2 jobs while
studying and is providing for kids. It seems much more likely given the
location in this story too.

------
philshem
good content, but here is all of the content in one tweet

[https://twitter.com/saallyjohnsonn/status/121719070339206758...](https://twitter.com/saallyjohnsonn/status/1217190703392067584)

------
aninteger
Whatever happened to parking permits, parking officers, and parking tickets?

~~~
ISL
Boots are used to ensure compliance from those who would skip parking fines.

~~~
_jal
"Parking here [inconveniences|isn't fair to|creates danger for] others, so if
you leave your car here, we will make the situation worse by ensuring the
alleged harm will continue longer than it otherwise would."

Yes, something something deterrence. Again, in reality, the article explains
how that played out.

Proper law enforcement isn't cheap, and if it is a profit center, you don't
have peace officers, you have highwaymen.

------
selfishgene
Maybe online degree programs should start advertising:

"No Parking Fees EVER!"

Know someone that got a master's degree from the comfort of his own living
room for under $10K and is now earning a decent six-digit salary.

------
unnouinceput
Quote: "The company’s CEO says improvements have been made to counter these
hacks already, but we’re curious to see where this parking arms race heads
next." Me too, lol. Can't wait to see as well, I mean you put your low
solution vs students who eat this stuff as hobby and you think you'll best
them? good luck there Mr. CEO

------
Scoundreller
This is just a bunch of unverified reddit/Twitter reposts.

I’m sure the defrost trick works in winter, but it won’t work as well in
summer.

~~~
barnaclebuster
I suspect in warm climates, the sun will save you the trouble of the
defroster, especially if they fit it in the morning when it is cooler and you
come back in the late afternoon when the car is at its hottest to reduce the
vacuum pressure and the seal rubber at its most pliable due to the heat.

~~~
Scoundreller
If parked outdoors.

One of the OU pictures in the article shows indoor parking.

I’m the wacko that leaves the windows open a crack if it’s sunny enough and
not going to rain.

------
14
This reminds me of when I was in Hawaii visiting my brother who lived in a
high rise building. This was years ago so all I had ever know was the lock and
key but his building had key cards and the doors would just unlock with the
swipe of a card and you could go to your unit. He explained they are just
magnetically locked. I asked well couldn't you just pry them open? We decided
to try and sure enough with 2 of use we were able to pull past the strong
electromagnet. It didn't really seem overly hard I am sure a strong person
could do it alone.

~~~
pxx
That doesn't seem like they used an electromagnet that was strong enough (an
implementation problem rather than a problem with the design). Well-
provisioned magnetic door locks should be stronger than the door or a
comparable physical lock.

------
awillen
"a user who found out his campus only had 12 wheel boots to go around and
bought and illegally parked 12 scrapyard cars that could be “sacrificed” so
everyone else could park however they wanted."

Not all heroes wear capes.

~~~
chrisseaton
Why is everyone in this thread celebrating people who park selfishly?!

Taking up spaces with abandoned cars is a particularly miserable thing to do
that makes the original underlying problem worse!

~~~
teej
Because using scrap cars to exhaust the barnacle supply is a hilarious way to
hack the system for the benefit of other students.

~~~
acdha
How does this “benefit” other students? They're the ones who are being
inconvenienced by scofflaws and if it's like most other places quite likely
endangered: the same people who park illegally tend to be cavalier about
blocking bike lanes and curb cuts, speeding, rolling through crosswalks, etc.

~~~
flatiron
As someone who commuted to college parking illegally is just something you
have to do. I had parking fines I had to pay before receiving my diploma even
though I made the grades and such. Parking and universities is a mess.

~~~
notatoad
>parking illegally is just something you have to do

driving to college is not something you _have to do_. it's something you
choose to do. parking is a side effect of driving, not a god-given right.

~~~
whichquestion
If you are low income, and need to get to school but have no other way to go
than to drive, what else should you do?

It seems like you are suggesting that some people have other choices than
driving. There are a lot of colleges with no accessible public transportation
infrastructure.

Many people don’t have the financial means to do anything else, especially
when there isn’t the public transportation infrastructure to support them.

~~~
notatoad
what does low income have to do with this? driving is _expensive_. between
fuel, vehicle maintenance, parking, and insurance, driving your personal
vehicle should not be the "low income" choice.

If there's truly no choice other than driving (which isn't really possible,
because if driving alone is an option then so is carpooling), your income
level has nothing to do with it. If there is a choice, then low income is not
a reason to drive.

~~~
dsfyu404ed
>what does low income have to do with this? driving is expensive. between
fuel, vehicle maintenance, parking, and insurance, driving your personal
vehicle should not be the "low income" choice.

At the low end it is not really that expensive.

Initial buy in is like $1500, $1k for the shitbox, $500 for the paperwork you
need to legally operate it.

Fuel isn't exactly cheap but it's not a lump sum so if you're poor you can
manage.

Maintenance is solved by bringing beer and pizza to someone who does that
stuff on the side (for any instance where the upper middle class would shell
out hundreds for a licensed professional this is the solution the lower
classes usually have). If something really catastrophic happens you get
another shitbox and are late on your other bills.

Unless you live somewhere where public transit is both decent quality and
cheap and parking routinely costs money then driving is often cheaper than
public transit.

~~~
acdha
You left out insurance, which is a big chunk of change, and all of the costs
for when you don’t have a family mechanic who doesn’t charge by the hour and
needs parts, not to mention the cost of towing, missed work, etc. when the
cheap car breaks. Theft is still a concern unless you can afford safe parking,
too - even a beater usually has parts worth something to a thief.

I’ve had cheap cars before and solidly subscribe to the Sam Vines boot theory:
unless you can do all of your own maintenance, it’s more expensive long-term
but the only option for someone who can’t swing the higher up-front costs.
Around here (DC) this is often cited as a poverty factor in favor of better
transit since these costs all add up and the many low-paying jobs require
hours and/or locations which aren’t great for the limited transit options
(e.g. if you work at a restaurant you leave around when the rail is shut down
but the bus takes 90 minutes and driving means a ton of upfront costs plus $$$
parking).

------
salawat
It is downright amazing how much information asymmetry is seen as a
prerequisite to maintain law and order.

For instance, implementation details of devices being leaked are a surefire
way of obviating any mitigatory measure employed to coerce cooperation out of
an uninformed population.

The irony of this happening at a University, an Institution centered around
equipping people with the tools they need to overcome information asymmetry,
is not lost on me.

~~~
kevvok
Really demonstrates why “security through obscurity” is no security at all.

------
millzlane
They even ticket employee's cars that are breaking the parking rules on
campus.

------
kazinator
The cards are heavily stacked against anything that uses suction to clamp on.
Basically any leak of atmospheric pressure into the suction voids, and it's
game over.

You can't easily prevent the the entry of sharp, thin blades between the
device's case and the vehicle glass. You will never get a good enough fit on
all shapes of windshield.

The kinds of contraptions I can think of that could guard the gap between the
device's case and the glass could be damaging to the glass (for instance,
spring-loaded steel plates around the perimeter of the device, perpendicular
to the glass).

What would work would be putting a large sticker on the glass, which is cross-
hatched by numerous cuts so that it has to be peeled off in half-centimeter-
sized slivers.

Instead of a fine, you get a notice with a phone number: for a $180 fee and an
hour or two, a sticker specialist will painstakingly peel everything off. You
are under no obligation to use that service, but if your car is not out of
there by a certain time, it will be towed.

I.e. nobody has any shortcut to get the thing off; it's as hard for them as
for you.

------
ani-ani
What the article doesn't state is what advantage the Barnacle offers over a
more traditional boot design. OK, there's the online payment thing, but that
could be equally implemented with a boot. So why the convoluted design? Is it
because you can drive around a bit (dangerously) while the barnacle is on?

~~~
chomp
A couple of things, it’s quicker and requires less knowledge to apply, less
damage to vehicles, and you don’t need a parking officer to come out to remove
it; they just dial it in and it pops off, and the barnacled person drops it in
a drop box. This removes the need for 24/7 parking officer shifts to need to
come out and remove the device.

This thing is also probably sold to organizations that don’t want to deal with
the logistics of supporting boots, but are still interested in holding cars
for ransom. So a traditional boot design may have always been a nonstarter for
them, but this device isn’t.

------
SubiculumCode
My favorite part of the article: Guerilla'd.

"but our fave low-tech workaround was shared by a user who found out his
campus only had 12 wheel boots to go around and bought and illegally parked 12
scrapyard cars that could be “sacrificed” so everyone else could park however
they wanted."

------
notjtrig
Original reddit post:

[https://www.removeddit.com/r/specializedtools/comments/e541r...](https://www.removeddit.com/r/specializedtools/comments/e541r4/comment/f9ivr37)

------
zzo38computer
Let it be known that putting that kind of stuff on the student's car is NOT
OK. A locked car cover may be helpful (would it help with the stuff in the
wheel too? even if not, put your own locked cover on the wheel) (it would also
prevent people from putting papers in the wind shield, I think).

But nevertheless the students should pay the fine for parking if they wish to
park their car in the parking space that requires payment. If the fee is too
much then they should file a public complaint with the owner of the parking
lot.

------
jtms
Normally I would think “break the rules, pay the fines” but I am sympathetic
in this case. When I was in college I had to put my bicycle in the back of my
truck and park about two miles away from campus because there was literally
never valid parking on campus and the school was doing next to nothing to fix
the problem.

------
Scoundreller
I tried to warn the auto-industry about this windshield vulnerability for
decades.

But they all laughed at my dystopian future of crooks running around demanding
ransoms to remove their suction hardware.

------
yread
Something like this would also work:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LisjVE1djt8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LisjVE1djt8)

Modifying the car to drive backwards

------
tomohawk
> just like paying for parking at a university where you’re already paying a
> hefty tuition fee

Kinda like having to pay for parking when you already are paying hefty taxes.
Neat hack, tho

------
monksy
What I find annoying about this:

They're acting as an enforcement agency without any oversight. They're
modifying property and holding it hostage. It's amazing how a company tries to
apply ownership towards something they modify on someone else's property. I
don't have an issue with reporting an unpaid debt over fines. However you
can't exactly fence off someone's house and hold them hostage because of a
disagreement.

------
birdyrooster
I bet you could get some sort of coating for your windshield which would
resist the suction of the barnacle.

------
bluntfang
Is scofflaw parking really that big of an issue at OSU? This seems
antagonistic towards the students.

~~~
philshem
the article states that

> After “receiving feedback from the community” – that is, having its new
> parking enforcement method thwarted – OU has decided to pause the trial use
> of the five devices it’d borrowed from the Barnacle’s manufacturer.

so I would guess it has to do more with aggressive sales tactics

------
exabrial
Is OU's campus a drive-up college or more walkable/bikeable? Never been there.

------
artsyca
I want to wretch when I hear the prideful vocal fry of technology workers
preaching with authority while talking out their asses

------
jeanlou
Now ain't that engenious. Well done to the students

