IPOD helps us stick it to the man

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**Frazzled**

No word on whether Washington police later performed on illegal stop and search on IPOD's

Fight the Power! Free the Oppressed!

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Devices-that-warn-drivers-of-speed_-red-light-cameras-draw-police-ire-7930619-50074717.html

Police chief denounces 'cowardly' iPhone users monitoring speed traps
By: Hayley Peterson
Examiner Staff Writer
July 7, 2009
Apple iPhone (file photo) (Getty Images file photo)
Area drivers looking to outwit police speed traps and traffic cameras are using an iPhone application and other global positioning system devices that pinpoint the location of the cameras.

That has irked D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier, who promised her officers would pick up their game to counteract the devices, which can also help drivers dodge sobriety checkpoints.

"I think that's the whole point of this program," she told The Examiner. "It's designed to circumvent law enforcement -- law enforcement that is designed specifically to save lives."

The new technology streams to i-Phones and global positioning system devices, sounding off an alarm as drivers approach speed or red-light cameras.

Lanier said the technology is a "cowardly tactic" and "people who overly rely on those and break the law anyway are going to get caught" in one way or another.

The greater D.C. area has 290 red-light and speed cameras -- comprising nearly 10 percent of all traffic cameras in the U.S., according to estimates by a camera-tracking database called the POI Factory.

Lanier said the cameras have decreased traffic deaths. Red-light and speed cameras have been a hot topic in Montgomery County since Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley signed a bill in May allowing local governments to place speed cameras in school and highway construction zones.

Montgomery County police did not respond to calls and e-mails for this story.

Ralph Ganoe of Silver Spring said he uses detection software from a Washington-based company, PhantomAlert, to avoid speed traps and crowded intersections.

"Well, my pocket has money in it," Ganoe quipped, when asked about the software's impact on his driving record. "Everybody's got a heavy foot. ... Now I don't have to worry about where [the cameras] are at."

PhantomAlert mimics radar detectors — which are outlawed in D.C. and Virginia — by alerting drivers of nearby enforcement "points of interest" via global positioning system devices. PhantomAlert keeps up to date on traffic enforcement through its users, who contribute information online.

Founder and CEO of PhantomAlert Joe Scott claimed nine out of 10 police departments across the country support his software.

"If police come against us, it's going to make them look like they are only [after] revenue" from the camera-generated citations, he said.

Photo radar tickets generated nearly $1 billion in revenues for D.C. during fiscal years 2005 to 2008.

In the current fiscal year, Montgomery County expects to make $29 million from its red light and speed cameras. Lanier said efforts to outlaw the software would be too difficult.

She said, "with the Internet and all the new technology, it's almost impossible to stop the flow of information."

**BrookM**

iPhone, not iPod.

**Frazzled**

IPhonograph was the best.
WHAT-EV-ER!

**grizgrin**

Evidently in addition not not being able to stop the flow of technology, you also cannot stop the utterances of the idiots.

**BrookM**

You need to keep up with the gizmos if you want to blend in with the cool crowds man!

Anyway, I am to understand that it is forbidden to pass around information of speed cams?

**Frazzled**

BrookM wrote:You need to keep up with the gizmos if you want to blend in with the cool crowds man!

Bah, if the wheel was good enough for Nog it was good enough for me. Everything else is downhill after that.

Anyway, I am to understand that it is forbidden to pass around information of speed cams?

No its quite legal. Thats why THE MAN hates it baby.

**BrookM**

Hmmm, I can already see highway patrolmen jump on their hats in frustration at yet another income avoiding scheme of the plebs.

**Kilkrazy**

Instead of constantly checking the speedo hasn't risen to 31mph a driver should keep his attention on THE ROAD, which is where accidents actually happen.

**Frazzled**

In the US speedo has a different and far more horrible connotation.

**Kilkrazy**

It's a trap!

**youbedead**

grizgrin wrote:Evidently in addition not not being able to stop the flow of technology, you also cannot stop the utterances of the idiots.

Thats I-diot

**spartanghost**

iDiot, idiot.

**Waaagh_Gonads**

The problem for us here in Oz are the mobile speed cameras in the backs of SUVs and motorbike police hiding behing bus stops and trees.

**Wrexasaur**

Wait... really?

How does a motorcycle hide behind a tree? You need to post pictures of this, I think we all deserve a good laugh.

"Note"
Down with THE MAN, and corporate affiliates

.

**BrookM**

Creed is probably the guy in charge over there.

**George Spiggott**

Wrexasaur wrote:Wait... really?

How does a motorcycle hide behind a tree? You need to post pictures of this, I think we all deserve a good laugh.

"Note"
Down with THE MAN, and corporate affiliates .

There! Can't you see it? I think its climbed into the branches.

**rubiksnoob**

In the 41st millenium do you think they would have speed cams and red light cams?

**Jin**

Sigh. That's my home county....

Dear Police Chief Lanier:

The camera systems are purportedly in place so that traffic is safer on the streets. What they actually do is cause people who will be driving a little fast anyways to SLAM on their brakes suddenly right before hitting a speed camera.

What these apps DO provide, is advanced warning so that people will slow down more gradually around speed cameras or avoid the busier intersections where you have red-light cameras. The cameras will NOT deter people from speeding, but at least with a speed camera and a warning device, you can have problem areas move a bit slower WITHOUT people getting into potential accidents by screeching their tires within 50 feet of the camera.