EZ Pass and the fast lane ....

[Eric Rescorla]

"Perry E. Metzger" <perry at piermont.com> writes:

> John Gilmore <gnu at toad.com> writes:
>>> It would be relatively easy to catch someone
>>> doing this - just cross-correlate with other
>>> information (address of home and work) and
>>> then photograph the car at the on-ramp.
>>
>> Am I missing something?
>>
>> It seems to me that EZ Pass spoofing should become as popular as
>> cellphone cloning, until they change the protocol.
>
> I doubt it.
>
> All the toll lanes that accept EZ Pass that I've seen are equipped
> with cameras. These cameras are used to identify toll evaders
> already. You point out that doing this would require manual work, but
> in fact several systems (including the one used for handling traffic
> fees in central London) have already demonstrated that automated
> license plate reading systems are feasible. Even without automated
> plate reading, storing photographs is also now astoundingly cheap
> given how cheap storage has gotten, so if anyone ever complained about
> incorrect charges on their bill, finding the plates of the cars that
> went through during the disputed toll collections would be trivial.

Precisely. Moreover, you can presumably use fairly unsophisticated
data mining/fraud detection techniques to detect when a unit has
been cloned and then go back to the photographs to find and punish
the offenders.

-Ekr

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