55 Comments - Just Me 2 - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 2:56 pm: Cost? - Tom - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 2:59 pm: Make it an option. If you want a digital plate, which I think would be cool, great. If you don’t stick with the old metal, out of date peeling plating. - Q - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:00 pm: Chicago PD and the Dept. of Finance have deployed hundreds of automated license plate scanners, both on cars and POD cameras, as have many private owners of parking lots. There are zero regulations ensuring the privacy of any of this data, so surely legislation addressing ALPR data is more timely than legislation addressing something that doesn’t exist. It is also worth noting that CPD does not update its “hot list” fast enough to make this technology actually useful for tracking recently carjacked vehicles. - NIU Grad - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:01 pm: I don’t exactly trust the SecState’s office with this data, including their ability to keep it secure. I agree with Demmer that the privacy concerns outweigh any potential benefit. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:04 pm: Well… I guess if you’re concerned about being “tracked” you’d be against I-Pass too? - Excitable Boy - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:04 pm: Without doing a deep dive on pros and cons I’ll at least say I appreciate the outside the box thinking. - Ron Burgundy - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:06 pm: I too would want to know the cost, and perhaps the tracking could just be activated upon the report of a crime. As for GPS in your car tracking your every move, most late model cars already do this. Should we tell Rep. Demmer? - The Doc - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:10 pm: Less concerned about the privacy angle - that horse is long out of the barn - but agree with Demmer in the hacking/tech issues. I’d like to see evidence that IDES can function properly and the AG office ransomware attack has been sufficiently addressed before considering DLPs, to name a couple of recent examples. - JS Mill - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:11 pm: If Demmer is against it….I have to be for it. Plus..What OW and Ron Burgundy said. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:13 pm: As an option to owners and vehicles, that could be a better workable idea… but as long as I- Pass exists and exists that you can merely register plates and need not a responder, the idea of tracking, even by license plate is long past an idea. - G'Kar - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:14 pm: I guess my family and friends have led a sheltered life here in small town central Illinois. No one I know has ever had their car stolen. This digital plate should be made an option and nothing more. - Blue Dog - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:14 pm: I like the optional idea. - Ron Burgundy - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:15 pm: -you’d be against I-Pass too?- Wait until they find out the state could theoretically send speeding tickets to people by a simple calculation involving the time it takes a driver to pass between two I-Pass toll exchanges and the distance covered. - 47th Ward - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:16 pm: ===if you’re concerned about being “tracked” you’d be against I-Pass too?=== If you have your cell phone with you in the car, you’re already trackable. But I’m with Ron. Don’t tell Demmer. It’ll keep him up at night. He’s apparently OK with large monopolistic private businesses having this data, just not “the government.” Talk about missing the forest for the trees. - Huh? - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:23 pm: Digital license plates could be used to enact a vehicle milage tax for electric and very high mileage vehicles. - @misterjayem - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:23 pm: “Your thoughts on this digital license plate idea?” 1) There’s a huge difference between drivers choosing to use tracking devices and the state mandating tracking devices for all cars. 2) How long before this technology for tagging stolen cars is used to tag cars with unpaid parking tickets? Or href=”https://www.today.com/parents/mom-faces-fines-possible-jail-time-over-late-library-books-t166624″>overdue library books? 3) Pass. – MrJM - Old Illini - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:24 pm: Can they be made non-removable — otherwise a smart thief would throw the plate away. - Candy Dogood - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:25 pm: ===send speeding tickets to people by a simple calculation=== This is already consistently done in Germany in areas of the Autobahn where there are posted speed limits. In most developed countries they have taken measures to ticket people for excessive speed that don’t involve having an officer force you to stop after they themselves have exceeded safe speeds to catch up with you. Considering the amount of police misconduct that starts with traffic stops, moving towards a more remote model would likely be a net social positive, even if some people couldn’t go 20 over on a regular basis anymore. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:28 pm: ===mandating=== Make it optional, then I’d be more likely to pay attention to its worthiness. - ddp76 - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:28 pm: Big Brother has been here for years. But it’s more private sector than government. That phone in your hand. The one with the location settings enabled can most probably be subpoenaed should the need arise. - Skeptic - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:29 pm: “otherwise a smart thief would throw the plate away” Or hit it with a hammer. - Annonin' - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:30 pm: So DEMsis pro carjacking? Well it does appear to be a growth industry. Verrrrry smart. - We've never had one before - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:33 pm: A 30 second exposure to 1000 watts of 2 to 2.5 GHz radio energy might have an adverse affect on the functioning of a digital plate. - Lowki - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:35 pm: ” help solve the carjacking epidemic ” If you are not going to let police pursue suspects and the DA will not charge them when they are actually caught the epidemic will continue. - One Opinion - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:36 pm: Agree with Demmer. - We've never had one before - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:40 pm: The plates are retailing for $500 for a basic one and $800 for a deluxe one. Just for the plate. And this is Illinois, you will need two plates. Now how do you feel? - Earnest - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:43 pm: I’m with Demmer. I don’t want the state to automatically have the capacity to track everywhere my car goes. Soon enough that ability will be abused because of whatever fear issue becomes trendy or politically influential. Demmer’s bill won’t get the rest of my electronic privacy back, but I’ve got to start somewhere. - Anon221 - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 3:50 pm: If most digital plates are anything like this one, the state would have a major tech challenge on their hands for drivers without smartphones and internet access. Caution, the presenter in this video does use the f-word once and *ss once. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYSDF-r-TzE - Anon221 - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 4:03 pm: The other side of the debate. One of the commenters on this video asked a pertinent question- how expensive would the plate be to replace if you were re-ended? Also, would Illinois require these to be on both the front and back? That is a LOT of potential expense… far and above what we now pay for metal stamped license plates. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB-zgRK6fpw - ChicagoVinny - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 4:05 pm: Too ripe for abuse. - Amalia - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 4:09 pm: yeah the tracking device ability is problematic in some ways. But since it is from Moore, I just keep wondering why he is running, how his run factors in with Dowell, and Alexi….. - Give Us Barabbas - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 4:10 pm: Looks like a solution in search of a problem to me. And the added potential for warrantless searching/ tracking isn’t really a selling point for me. Photo scanners everywhere already creep me out for their abuse potential as we’ve seen in China. Cell phones are voluntary and commercial. IPASS is also voluntary. Car plates mandated by the state are not. As mentioned, these won’t stop or solve carjacking. As with red light cameras I’m also waiting for a connection to be revealed between vendors and government officials pushing this tech. - Been There - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 4:10 pm: I definitely agree with Demmer on this one. It’s bad enough the insurance companies want to know all about you. I would prefer they figured out a way to make all guns trackable by GPS /s - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 4:18 pm: Is Demmer against making it optional? That’s my question as to his earnest “worry” to the tracking. It’ll be telling for sure. To be against the technology advantage it can be, instead of seeing the optional good, then throw away your cell phones, I-Pass, etc… - LakeCo - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 4:19 pm: Not real thrilled with how IPass handles our data, and don’t especially live in fear of carjacking. Pass. https://www.wbez.org/stories/how-your-private-illinois-tollway-data-is-shared-with-cops-and-divorce-lawyers/cea68ea0-4b13-481a-80a1-50bf0e9db738 - TheInvisibleMan - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 4:27 pm: Worried about tracking? The only way to no longer have concerns about privacy, is to completely abandon the concept of privacy. I wonder how he feels about the reality that I can legally buy low earth orbit satellite images from the open market of a specific location with enough resolution to track a car. These images are refreshed every 90 minutes. These products are often used by hedge funds to track vehicle traffic in retail parking lots to estimate sales. They are available to anyone who wants to pay for it. If they want to track you, all that it takes is a credit card to pay for the service. That’s just one of the methods available. I’ll leave the others for another time, but suffice it to say most people are operating on an outdated concept of privacy which hasn’t existed in reality for their entire lives. Privacy is an illusion. But to the point, as one other person has mentioned above this would be an obvious first step for per mileage taxation for electric vehicles - which I’m fine with. Roads aren’t free, and if I use them, I should pay for them. It’s hardly a violation of my privacy to pay for a public road I’m using. - Anyone Remember - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 4:33 pm: Rep. Demmer would be credible if he took the Mike Madigan approach to cell phones. /s - Anon221 - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 4:37 pm: Cost… at least for Reviver digital plates- “The basic Rplate with a five-year battery is $499 and then either $55 a year or $4.99 a month. It is also available for $17.95 a month for 36 months. Everything’s a bit pricier with the wired Rplate Pro, which is the more powerful option that works best for fleets because it can offer telematics options through its built-in GPS system. The Pro costs $599 and $75 a year, or $599 and $6.99 a month to buy outright, or you can pay for it in installments of $24.95 a month for 36 months. Plus installation, of course.” https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a34748524/digital-license-plates-coming-2021/ Now, would Illinois also have a fee on top of this??? - DuPage - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 4:41 pm: Who will pay for it? - Zoomer - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 4:42 pm: Read through this post twice and searched through the Google for longitudinal data to justify “a spike” worthy of such an action as implementing “digital” license plates. Many references to (and seemingly conflicting reports regarding) the extent to which this is a case of Chicagoland “youth” looking to joyride. Ultimately, would love to come across a five-year, statewide heat map of carjackings by region. Or something showing a trend, at a state level. Shy of that, I’m a firm “no” to the idea: 1) We can’t even get a single line of digital LED text onto our Ipass transponders to let us know in real-time how much money is in our Ipass piggy bank. In 2021, that’s a reasonable, feasible ask. Mass-produced, that’s an extra $2 / transponder. How do GPS-embedded license plates, then, carry a price tag of $500+? Consumer GPS devices with a nice UI and a soothing British voice redirecting me after making a wrong turn cost half that amount. 2) We live in an age where the vast majority of us truly have no clue how much privacy we give up simply by owning an Internet-enabled (and GPS-enabled) smartphone.. let alone using it for.. anything “smart”. I have zero desire to add one more tracking device to my daily livelihood. 3) I know this isn’t a clean analogy, but this really smells of the burning kindling of the next iteration of red light cameras and speed cameras. Not sure I’m convinced of the efficacy of either to solve the respective problems for which each was built. Not interested. - Stig - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 4:42 pm: I can see the advantage for fleet operators to centrally manage and remotely update their vehicle registrations. If they wish to make it optional for those sectors, I have no problem with that. I see zero benefit for the average driver. Our phones already provide Amber alert information. If you’re worried about car jacking, an On-Star type solution that can remotely disable the vehicle is a more effective option. These plates are too easy to disable or remove to deter theft. 5 seconds with a strategically placed drill bit and it’s done for. - DuPage - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 4:55 pm: ===Moore said the digital license plate platform is capable of sending alerts about stolen vehicles to notify the police and the public. It can also provide the vehicle’s owner with the location of their stolen vehicle.=== On-star and most of the other manufacturers have the capability to track and make the stolen vehicle go no faster then 15MPH and the horn and flashers run. At this point the customer has to have a subscription to these services. The state should arrange for this service to be available to police on a per/use basis, paid by the state. - Bob Meter - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 5:00 pm: I like the implementation of digital licenses plates. Why worry if you have nothing to hide? - Pot calling kettle - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 5:03 pm: The first thing that came to my mind was that the criminals would remove or disable the plate (as mentioned above). So, if it isn’t good for that, what is it for? If you are worried about your car being stolen, there are plenty of commercial products to choose from. - Mad Hatter - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 5:14 pm: Make it optional, if you provide finger prints. - A Jack - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 5:35 pm: Insurance will pay for my more expensive vehicles and I am not too worried about my $500 car being stolen. Plus what is going to happen when police are able to look up a vehicle owner’s race by their license and then track that vehicle? Racial profiling on steroids. - A Jack - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 5:50 pm: Also, tollway privacy is not an issue south of I-80. And even when I do go to the Chicago area, I can avoid tollways, if I am not in a hurry to get where I am going. - City Guy - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 5:52 pm: If I witness a crime involving a car, currently I can help identify the car via the license plate. I can’t do that with a digital plate. - Manchester - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 6:02 pm: Count me out. Big Brother (government and business) already knows way too much about our lives as it is. - Captain Obvious - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 6:18 pm: If it’s optional I have no problem with it. We don’t have a car jacking problem where I live so there is no real need for this. Of course the car jacking is an obvious, convenient reason to enact this. - Last Bull MooseI - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 7:28 pm: I cannot believe this is the most effective way to stop carjackings. You are spending a large sum on every car to protect a few. I might support drones with cameras so that cars could be followed without high speed auto chases. - RNUG - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 8:25 pm: == send speeding tickets to people by a simple calculation == Big Brother was doing that 50 years ago on some eastern toll roads. Which is why, if you drive like a bat out of hell, you stop at an oasis for gas and food, so your elapsed time was below the speed limit. - popeye25 - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 8:33 pm: how about we go back to old fashion police work. Conduct stings like we used to…….have U/C cops drive nice cars in areas where carjacking have been happening. Of course this would require that we do proactive police work and would be accused of targeting black and brown people when in reality we are targeting criminals and don’t care if they’re brown, black , white or blue. - Old Illini - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 8:57 pm: ==Why worry if you have nothing to hide?== Don’t assume I have nothing to hide. - Odysseus - Monday, Jun 28, 21 @ 8:57 pm: Digital license plates are a really dumb idea. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.