This will escalate - every new car on the road comes with a bevy of cheap cameras integrated - I get 360 degree views when backing up from my 2018 Chevy Bolt. It's really only a matter of time before license plate scanning computers get integrated - there's already a cellular modem integrated into the vehicle - I don't use or pay for that feature, but it's an opportunity.
This will escalate - every new car on the road comes with a bevy of cheap cameras integrated
Back when DOGE was making headlines and a certain car salesman was using the Oval Office as daycare for his kid, there were a people on HN and elsewhere noting that every Tesla could easily be turned into a roving real-time government surveillance unit.
I unplugged the cellular modem from my car and I suggest you do the same. These days it is basically impossible to buy a car without one, and if carmakers don't listen, we have to take matters into our own hands.
There's already a full cottage market of ALPR-on-cellphone applications. They can just mount a cellphone on the windshield and it's gonna run ALPR all day every day.
Same thing with fingerprint capture - they've now just got mobile apps to take a picture of your hands and submit for print processing.
Nothing dictates you must own and drive new cars.
If you want a new car, I imagine disabling the modem should be trivial.
I agree with your comment though.
Cop and other enforcement cars routinely get plate scanner cameras built in these days, so... that's already there.