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Comment by jcims | Hacker News Reader

How do you know that's what it was? Why would anyone need anything more than a simple camera for that application? Is it possible it was using LIDAR or some other tech for another application?

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Why does it matter? Why is it ok to drive through a private property and just scan shit, regardless of the specific technology used?

There are a number of valid reasons. Immediately jumping to the most conspiratorial may not be the healthiest approach.

Okay — name a few specific reasons.

I'd want to know what was done with the data after the scanning. Perhaps a specific car is being sought and the data is discarded afterwards, which would be more ethical than keeping the data and attempting to profit off of it, regardless of whether it's "legal" and there's some attempt at "disrupting an industry."

Yeah, if I wanted to do a license-plate scanning startup -- I would just use an off-the-shelf dash cam and a laptop. No need at all for special optical equipment.

And you'd miss a lot of the cars. By hanging them off the sides of the car, they can scan both sides of the aisle in one pass. They also need to be weather proofed, hence the housings.

Under ideal conditions you'll be able to read a limited amount right in front of the camera. Want to read plates at/after dusk or to the sides (e.g. parked cars) and you'll need special hardware.

I have a fixed APNR camera on my property and even with good positioning it can't always read the plates (nor can I manually) because sometimes sunlight glare blows out enough of the image to hide a digit or two.

I promise you that the people building these systems didn't just fail to think of using an off the shelf camera before they went out and deployed the fancy stuff.

Depends what the company’s focus is, right? If you want to do something with the data, why not use the already made, high quality devices that are relatively cheap. Seems like the important piece is likely using the data. (Unless you are trying to create the devices themselves, of course)

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