That Time the Pennsylvania State Police Disguised a Spymobile as a Google Street View Car
But didn't disguise it very well
It's creepy enough that the cops are using license plate readers to track people's movements. If they're camouflaging those readers as Google Street View vehicles, that's creepier still. Autoblog reports:
On May 11, Matt Blaze walked by an odd vehicle that had suspicious-looking Google Maps stickers. Plus the vehicle was registered to the City of Philadelphia and had a Pennsylvania State Police placard in the window. It was also fitted with license plate readers—the controversial technology used by law enforcement to automatically record and track thousands of vehicle movements. These movements are then stored in police databanks, with very few protocols for who can access those files.
Anyone else may have missed this oddity, but Blaze just happens to be an associate professor of computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania. He tweeted a picture of the vehicle, which exposed a surveillance scheme that would make any modern city dweller queasy….
Pennsylvania State Police tweeted back that the vehicle wasn't one of theirs, despite the markings and registration. A trooper with PA police also told Gizmodo it wasn't theirs. But Pennsylvania State Police admitted by late afternoon Thursday that the mystery SUV was indeed part of their fleet…
On the plus side, it was a pretty clumsy camouflage job. The police, for their part, have declared that "the placing of any particular decal on the vehicle was not approved through any chain of command."
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LINKS! LINKS! LINKS!
Good things come to those who wait, Padawan.
Apparently, LINKS are a privilege that has been taken away from us.
When I was a kid we typed uphill in the snow both ways to get our PM Links!
“Barney, hold my piece and watch this!”
“Genius!”
This is the only chain of command I need.
*taps thumb on pistol grip*
Isn’t the “chain of command” the chain between the handcuffs?
The chain of command is the chain that cops go and get and beat you with until you learn who’s in ruttin command here.
+ 1 Jayne Cobb hat
But Pennsylvania State Police admitted by late afternoon Thursday that the mystery SUV was indeed part of their fleet…
Loose lips sink data gathering ships. But I’m not really sure why they thought it was even necessary to camouflage the thing.
Because people would have thought it was merely a perv.
… merely a perv.
Nice
So was this a Pennsylvania State Police vehicle or a Philadelphia Police vehicle? The article seems a little unsure about it.
I’m willing to bet a camouflaged license plate reader is one of the least bad things the Philadelphia police department has done.
Aren’t the Philly police the ones who fire-bombed a city block populated by civilians and prevented fire crews from dealing with the resulting firestorm?
31 years ago last week in fact.
It’s amazing how many people don’t know about it. Even when I lived in the Philly area most people didn’t know about it.
Let The Fire Burn is a fantastic documentary about the bombing.
Yes it is, I highly recommend.
I will have time to watch it soon, do either you or CJ have a good link?
It’s rentable on youtube.
I saw it on Netflix. I do not know if it is still on there. I am sure it is avaiable on Amazon, or VUDU, if you stream.
Thanks, all.
Doesn’t look like its on Netflix anymore, but you can rent it on Amazon.
“We prefer to MOVE on with our lives.”
State police dropped the incendiary. Philly cops were an the ground surrounding the block.
Let’s MOVE.
+1 The City that Bombed Itself
(I suppose that it does slightly rhyme with The City of Brotherly Love.)
Actually, the Philadelphia Police, Pennsylvania State Police, Philadelphia Fire Department, and just about every city official came up with this plan together. 65 homes were destroyed, and 11 people inside the house were killed. It was reported that police fired on people trying to escape from the house, and the police fired 10,000 rounds at the house.
That was actually the second major confrontation with MOVE. There was also a shootout in 1978, before the 1985 bombing.
“Anyone who runs is a VC. Anyone who stands is a well-disciplined VC.”
+1 “Non-Baldwin brother” Baldwin
Frank Rizzo’s wet dream.
Rizzo was not mayor in 1985; Wilson Goode was mayor when the house was bombed.
Rizzo was mayor at the time of the 1978 shootout.
I wonder how Google feels about this.
Google doesn’t care, I bet, except that they got caught. They are fully in bed.
I would love it if they sued the Philly PD for IP infringement. But a lot of people might see Google suing a major metropolitan police force as “punching down”.
Per one of the articles I’ve read about it, they’re “investigating” but didn’t say any more.
Here’s the thing about trademarks:
If you don’t defend every infringement, you lose them.
Google would be foolish not to do something here. Probably just a cease-and-desist letter rather than a lawsuit for damages (unless the Philly PD is stupid enough to keep using it after getting the letter), but they need to do something.
The cops are spying on their fellow citizens. Let this be a shot across the bow to those who think the cops will never shoot at their fellow citizens.
“The police, for their part, have declared that “the placing of any particular decal on the vehicle was not approved through any chain of command.””
So instead of stupid supervisors, we have negligent ones? That’s reassuring.
This ploy works for Hillary.
Are you saying Stupidity Trumps Negligence? Would make a heck of a bumper sticker.
No, I’m saying *Convenience* Tr,uh,Beats Negligence.
Its cops, so “beats” is the verb to use.
They’re negligent unless it’s better for them to have been stupid.
PM Links:
Pig actually convicted and sentenced for extortion.
I wonder how much a human would get for such crimes.
I thought you meant a literal pig as in the tasty animal. That seemed much more likely and then I read on in complete shock to find that it was a human pig that got convicted.
a human pig
Long pig?
Actually, I wonder if they also had a Stingray phone tracker in that thing and that’s why the attempted subterfuge.
You could just hide it in the trunk.
No one puts baby in a corner.
While they’re sneaking around and spying, maybe they could find the P.M. links.
I see. So when I impersonate a police officer and start giving out tickets for driving while sexy, that’s a crime. But when a police officer impersonates a civilian, it’s A-OK.
Were you using this as your “squad car”?
http://www.imcdb.org/i000363.jpg
Is subtlety outdated?
Top comment:
“Big deal. Give the brilliant professor a cookie and let’s move on to more pressing issues we’re faced with.
Crime would take a nose-dive if the public was as pro-active about stopping dangerous criminals as they are about law enforcement.”
The cops are the dangerous criminals, honey.
“But Chief, what if they like pizza?”
Trademark infringement maybe?
Wonder if big G could make them pay.
Sovereign immunity?
If the state polizei then yes because PA has sovereign immunity. If Philly local po-po then no because states, counties and other municipal entities are not sovereigns.
These are the Keystone Kops we’re dealing with….
Release the links. That eyeball is bothering me.
Visitor logs show Google’s unrivaled White House access
What the google maps car looks like.
What the undercover car looked like.
Lazy AND incompetent.
Google street view weirdness
Fakes, mostly
Probly. Still fun, though.
I can’t speak for all of them but #11 is 100% not, not NOT google ‘streetview’. It was a person standing by the railing, taking a picture of that bus crash which I drove underneath after it happened.
You’re a bus driver?
He WAS.
I’m on the lam.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=85cKaq5jjEc
Seems appropriate
Re: the alt-text, a true story.
One of my school mates had a glass eye. An innocent noob sat with us at lunch, realized she had forgotten something, and asked if we would keep an eye on her lunch until she returned. Hilarity ensued.
Nowadays, would everyone involved be suspended, or would that be degrading on the differently-abled?
Nowadays, that would be the least that would happen. Think lockdown due to suspicious object, comprehensive fumigation to prevent hep, … the list goes on and on.
I have a glass brown-eye.
The one good thing about this kind of shit: they’re too incompetent to pull anything like this off without looking like the braindead morons they are.
All we are sayyyinnng, is give P.M. links a chance….
It’s probably Soave again…be prepared for no or a shitty alt-text and lackluster links. But the hair is on point.
Soave is worse he is on point.
He’s a pointer?
A German shorthaired pointer?
With that hair? More like an Irish Setter.
Hopefully the college campus beat will get covered.
#PMLinksMatter
#AllLinksMatter
#NoLinksMatter
And: Cthulhu for President.
These are the links!
+1 Corinthian leather.
I like what you’ve done to my comment!
Now I know how old you are.
;p – that’s how old I am
5:30 and still linkless.
Batch Links Matter!
Look, Robby, just go with only two Trump links. You don’t have to keep looking for more. It’s okay. We won’t be mad. I promise.
“It posts the links on time or it gets the hose again.” – Wild Bill Warty
Somebody twitter at him, or whatever it’s called
Tweet the twit.
Facebook the music.
JK Rowling defends Donald Trump’s right to be ‘offensive and bigoted
And that is okay.
My question to you Crusty: Would?
Engorgio!
Brits are so fucking annoying these days. I think they’re worst than Canadians when it comes to offering banal comments about America.
Go clean up your own fucking mess.
Rufus, have you become a Blues fan yet?
Go BLUES ?!
Heh.
There’s an opening for them that’s for sure.
All four teams can win this
Columbia University to Open a First Amendment War Room
Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here. This is the war room.
Will they try to protect freedom of speech on the Columbia University campus?
Senate passes bill allowing 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia
“Another veto, coming right up!”
Errol Morris: ‘Demon in the Freezer’
Warning: AUTOPLAY
The Soviets are going to steal it. smdh
What, was the Flowers By Irene van in the shop?
straight outta philip k. dick. his policemen would probably be a little more competent though, to be a credible threat.
I’m sure the employee who knowingly lied to the public via Twitter was fired, there just wasn’t room in the article to include that detail.
All of this surveillance against individuals, yet no politicians, that are supposed to work for the people, are surveilled at all.
Sure they are (remember Dianne Feinstein’s fit against the CIA having spyware on a congressional aide’s computer [I think that’s where it was]). That’s just where the competent policemen are assigned.
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