The taxman cometh: BootFinder helps city marshals tow cars with unpaid taxes

New Haven, Connecticut, officials are throwing some technology at the problem of unpaid car taxes (we won't even go into how lame it is that some states levy an annual car tax). The BootFinder system uses a laptop with an attached infrared camera that rapidly scans license plate numbers and matches them to delinquent taxpayers by comparing notes with the database of offenders. For once we'd agree a little privacy paranoia might be in order, as officials scramble to think of all the other laws they could start enforcing using this sytem. Local governments are starting to see dollar signs resulting from the program, which will inevitably blind them to how disproportionate the towing punishment can be for what often amounts to a relatively minor infraction.

[Thanks, Bill]