{"id":1894,"date":"2013-09-10T16:26:29","date_gmt":"2013-09-10T16:26:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncjolt.org\/?p=1894"},"modified":"2020-06-04T20:54:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-04T20:54:00","slug":"are-digital-license-plates-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/blogs\/are-digital-license-plates-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Digital License Plates the Future?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, September 10, 2013, by Kyle Evans
\nGovernor Brown\u2019s signature is all that\u2019s needed to make an alternative license plate pilot program<\/a> a reality in California.\u00a0 The pilot program would implement digital license plates on a limited basis to evaluate whether the state will adopt the electronic plates on a large scale.\u00a0 The program would replace standard metal license plates with small, 12\u201d x 6\u201d, computer screens.\u00a0 The digital plates will be programmed to display license plate numbers, and will also wirelessly receive updates from the agency administering the pilot program.\u00a0 The plates could also be used to display information about whether the registration was expired or even if the car was stolen.
\nThe bill<\/a>, introduced by Senator Hueso (D), hopes to create savings for the California DMV by eliminating its registration-by-mail, which currently costs California over $20 million each year.\u00a0 The program is limited to only half a percent of registered California drivers, with a focus on including fleet owners like UPS and FedEx.\u00a0 By creating an electronic system of real-time updates on car registration, the DMV hopes to reduce postage costs and streamline the renewal process for millions of California drivers.
\nUnfortunately, the electronic license plate program may create more problems than it solves.\u00a0 This bill is being met with increased skepticism in the wake of a disastrous summer of public relations<\/a> for the NSA.\u00a0 Many folks are concerned about a constant, wireless connection between their car and a government agency.\u00a0 The bill does prohibit the DMV from collecting location data on registered cars. \u00a0The bill doesn\u2019t, however, make it clear whether location data will be collected long term or what the company operating the license plates can do with the data. \u00a0The bill also fails to mention safeguards against an outside attack at the plate\u2019s functionality. \u00a0Even with security measures in place, digital plates may still be susceptible to malicious hacking attempts that could gather location data or tamper with the plate\u2019s digital display.
\nThere are other problems not addressed by the bill.\u00a0 For instance, there is no discussion of how the digital plate will stand up against extreme heat or cold, or physical damage from traffic collisions or vandalism. \u00a0Who will be responsible for replacing malfunctioning license plates?\u00a0 Is the DMV really going to save money on postage\u2014less than a dollar per registered driver\u2014by switching to electronic plates more vulnerable to physical damage and digital tampering?<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the electronic license plate program may create more problems than it solves.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Perhaps the program will address these concerns and present the legislature with a report outlining shortcomings and fixes for the electronic plates.\u00a0 Pilot programs are specifically designed to serve as a trial run before wider implementation.\u00a0 Based on initial reaction, however, the pilot program certainly has a lot to prove if the legislature hopes to garner state-wide support.\u00a0 As one Ars Technica commenter, RickyP784, put it, this may just be \u201ca solution in search of a problem.\u201d
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, September 10, 2013, by Kyle Evans Governor Brown\u2019s signature is all that\u2019s needed to make an alternative license plate pilot program a reality in California.\u00a0 The pilot program would implement digital license plates on a limited basis to evaluate whether the state will adopt the electronic plates on a large scale.\u00a0 The program would …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[51],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1894"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1894"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7587,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1894\/revisions\/7587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}