# Digital License Plates - Dumbest idea ever **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 29, 2020, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740 "2020-11-29T21:55:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/41 "2020-11-30T19:34:32Z")
Yeah, count me out of this crack-pot idea. > [@bobot](#): > > It’s on my permanent record somewhere, now. Now you’ll _never_ get into an Ivy League School! > [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Ok, but today they can disable your _car_ remotely. As a Jeep owner, I can attest that they routinely disable themselves. ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/42 "2020-11-30T19:42:35Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Your plate can be obscured by mud, ice and snow as well. All systems have flaws but to wait and adopt until perfection is achieved is not always the best path. Look at seatbelts when they first came out, not nearly as safe as modern safety restraints. Should we have waited until shoulder harnesses and airbags were added? Seat belts were better than no seatbelts, you really only need to be as good as you are replacing and then advance from there. This is pretty unrelatable to a safety device. Unrelatable to incremental improvement. This is trying to make a license plate into a multipurpose device which makes it more likely to fail its core purpose: allowing observers to identify the vehicle. I would not want to live in the place where my license plate switching over to “stolen” on remote command is a net benefit. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/43 "2020-11-30T19:57:23Z")
The plate in the OP is an aftermarket doo-dad seeking government approval, more akin to a vanity plate. What I am discussing is what the OEM manufactures could do if they integrate the product into their car lines. People who buy that plate have too much money to burn for the latest thing. But I’d stop short of calling it dumb, just someone who found a nitch market and is trying to make the most of it. ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/44 "2020-11-30T20:00:20Z")
I personally think it should be illegal. You should not have adjustable license plates, for god’s sake. Niche or frigging not. I mean, imagine that James Bond car that could roll through a few license plates. Hey, that makes great sense for cars registered in a couple jurisdictions! Great idea? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/45 "2020-11-30T20:07:44Z")
Sounds promising. One could hack it and show a bogus plate number so that you could run photo enforced intersections with impunity. The only problem with that theory is that the $600 is way more than I would ever pay in tickets based on my driving record up to now. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/46 "2020-11-30T20:08:38Z")
People can already swap out plates with stolen or altered ones. The ability to change the number is controlled by the state. And what is law is what the state legislators decide after they get their kickback money from the lobbyist. ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/47 "2020-11-30T20:11:54Z")
You are ignoring what I’m saying, istm. Everything about this jeopardizes a license plate’s core purpose. It doesn’t matter that there are other ways to compromise license plates. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/48 "2020-11-30T20:16:22Z")
No I hear you. I just disagree that one is safer than the other. It’s possible that people are going to screw around with whatever you use, its not an excuse to not allow something else. Rich people will be buying these things, not criminal masterminds. By the time the OEM’s start integrating them into new cars the technology will have matured. It’s more likely that someone will copy the design into something that can be manipulated. Now that could be a problem, I’ll give you that. ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/49 "2020-11-30T20:21:42Z")
Isn’t it indisputable that the digital one is more ripe for abuse and problems? Yes, a normal plate can be switched out for a random stolen plate. But so could a digital one. Meanwhile, some jerk might hijack my digital plate and get it switched to “stolen”. Yes, my plate might get covered in mud. So would the digital. Meanwhile, it gets broken by a rock every 2 months. Or some power problem. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/50 "2020-11-30T20:24:12Z")
It isn’t indisputable and this isn’t Great Debates. Goodbye. ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/51 "2020-11-30T20:25:39Z")
Ok, well I thought low tech=less complications wouldn’t be such a touchy concept. Good bye then. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/52 "2020-11-30T20:28:56Z")
I could see it being good for rental car fleets who already track their cars anyway. Would probably make it easier to get cars into the fleet and remove them from the fleet almost like activating a new iPhone And, no, the rental car place isn’t tracking the business guy who goes to the strip club, they could care less. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/53 "2020-11-30T20:30:23Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > We will soon be getting to the point where cars talk to each other, its going to happen. Except the FCC just voted to auction off the spectrum which had been allocated to automakers to do this. After having the spectrum for decades, it was only ever used on one car. Don’t at me about this. I’m not saying that car to car communication is a bad idea, just that a significant hurdle has been placed in the way of deploying it. That is if you believe the Department of Transportation and the automakers who really wanted to keep that spectrum. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/54 "2020-11-30T20:35:22Z")
> [@FigNorton](#): > > Meanwhile, some jerk might hijack my digital plate and get it switched to “stolen”. Those cameras mounted on every stoplight are, in many cases, already scanning every (normal) license plate that goes by. Cops also cruise through parking lots with automated license plate scanners that trigger when a stolen one comes up. As long as we’re imagining “what if everything gets hacked!?!?”, someone could already flip a bit in the police database tagging your real plate as stolen. Or even just report it was stolen via the normal channels and some mild identity theft. > [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > Thirdly, and as stated already in at least one post, it won’t take long for such a system to be hacked. Then what? Then what what? Someone can deface your existing plate already. I know people that have had their registration stickers peeled off, and they got pulled over and had to deal with a fix-it ticket. If you’re driving any remotely late model car, there are way bigger things to worry about with regard to hacking. Like disabling your _brakes_ remotely. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/55 "2020-11-30T20:37:52Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Relax. No one is required to use these. Yet. Not _yet._… ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/56 "2020-11-30T20:40:03Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > As long as we’re imagining “what if everything gets hacked!?!?”, someone could already flip a bit in the police database tagging your real plate as stolen. Or even just report it was stolen via the normal channels and some mild identity theft. It’s still worse to have your plates switched to “stolen” because then people are calling the cops on you. And possibly they only have to hack the private company running your electronic vanity plate rather than the police database. I am not saying this is the end of the world. It’s just definitely detrimental to the core purpose of license plates. I certainly see their benefits as a vanity item. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/57 "2020-11-30T20:48:34Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > I live in Michigan and I don’t see a problem with these being used on new vehicle. I work for one of the automotive manufactures and can assure you that if these made it in a standard production feature (which most likely it will) that the ePlate would meet very rigorous validation standards much like the cameras and heated mirrors already do. So… do you work for the manufacturer that gave us “explode on contact” Pinto gas tanks? Or the manufacturer that gave us the craptacular “dents if you look directly at it” K-car? One of the other ones from the land that gave up planned obsolesce and bodies that rusted out a year or two? > [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Most new car already have telematics built into them that allow two communication between your car and the manufacture, not just voice communication like OnStar. Many models already have the capability of having software updated over the air much like cell phones do now and its going to become standard soon. Most are also vulnerable to hackers. Can’t wait until they can carjack you remotely. Yeah, that’s gonna be fun… > [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > I would not be surprised to see this as a totally standard feature by 2030. By then I also expect to see cars talking to each other and conveying road condition information back and forth, so having your plate number available without a physical plate doesn’t strike me as being anymore difficult. I know damn well the auto industry would love to make all that crap mandatory to force people like me to purchase new vehicles. I bought both my vehicles around the turn of the century for about $15,000 brand new, but you can’t do that any more because all the extra crap the consumer is now forced to buy raises the prices to around $40,000 - which means I’ll never, ever be able to afford a brand new car again, I’ll be driving someone else’s problems once my current two finally die. Or, if you make all that crap mandatory I simply won’t be able to afford to own a vehicle of my own, I’ll be priced out of the market. Some of us need just basic transportation, that’s it. Sure heated seats are nice but I’ll live without them for a less expensive vehicle. All this “oh, it doesn’t add _much_ to the price of a new car” adds up surprisingly quick. Let me know when I can purchase a basic, no frills reliable vehicle again - without the extraneous bells and whistles that add nothing and cost me money both when I buy it and for expensive repairs when crap I don’t need and never wanted breaks. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against _real_ progress, like mandatory seat belts, air bags, and gas tanks that don’t explode during an accident. I am opposed to forcing people to buy stuff they don’t want and is for the benefit of the insurance companies and the auto makers rather than the person actually paying the cost of the vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/58 "2020-11-30T20:52:02Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > So… do you work for the manufacturer that gave us “explode on contact” Pinto gas tanks? Or the manufacturer that gave us the craptacular “dents if you look directly at it” K-car? How old do you think I am? 🙂 And yes I know many people with your viewpoint. From what I’ve noticed mostly the divide is between city and rural users but their are acceptations. Most of these features are useless to people who don’t live in the city and have to deal with the traffic. There will still be utilitarian vehicles made, but most people may not want them after seeing the new stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/59 "2020-11-30T20:56:19Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Your plate can be obscured by mud, ice and snow as well. True. But it can’t be hacked by a kiddie with an arduino and a free evening. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740/60 "2020-11-30T20:57:21Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I bought both my vehicles around the turn of the century for about $15,000 brand new, but you can’t do that any more because all the extra crap the consumer is now forced to buy raises the prices to around $40,000 - which means I’ll never, ever be able to afford a brand new car again This is silly. I’m not sure what model of car you bought new for $15k, but there are plenty of new vehicles that cost less than $40k, and a comparable vehicle to what you bought for $15k is probably still available for about the same amount, inflation-adjusted. The price of cars has gone up [about 3% on average between 2000 and 2020.](https://www.in2013dollars.com/New-cars/price-inflation/2000-to-2020?amount=15000) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-license-plates-dumbest-idea-ever/926740.md?page=4)