72 hours left to go in a very interesting IndieGoGo campaign. The product in this campaign is called Privacy-Plate and it’s designed to protect the privacy of not only you, but your vehicle. You would think, who cares about your car, right? The fact of the matter is that invasive tracking is happening everywhere you drive with InfraRed (IR) cameras. What it looks like is your everyday normal plastic license frame, it’s not a cover that goes over your license plate which would be illegal in most places. Just a frame that mounts just like any other would. The frame has printed circuitry built right in which focuses intense IR light onto the license plate that is invisible to the naked eye. What cameras ‘see’ are a big white blur.

High-level engineering

We spoke to the engineers behind this project and they had a pretty compelling story to tell:

We are a group of ex: DoD type engineers who have worked in EW (Electronic Warfare) and high-tech startups. We have experience from semiconductors to RF circuit design to communications systems. Many more innovative privacy product solutions will be brought to market with your support.

We have done 3 high-tech start-ups in the past. One DoD related microwave electronics company, one commercial RF/Microwave (sold to Motorola spin-off), one Wireless Internet company (1999). This will be our 4th. We know how to design and build stuff.

While avoiding being tracked sounds pretty great, there are those of you that may find more utility out of this.  This is for those of you that – ahem – ‘love the open road’ and perhaps you are concerned about laser guns.  Privacy-Plate prevents laser-based guns from recording your speed, which no picture is taken.  It means other laser speed detection devices are useless.  The secret is the pulsing high powered IR LEDs that have a proprietary algorithm that disrupts LASER speed measuring devices.
It’s a great thing for privacy advocates, people that want to protect their whereabouts and location information because as we’ve said all along, why make things easier for the data collectors in the first place. Hackers and privacy concerned folks love this kind of stuff, and Privacy-Plate is already developing the next-generation products. So if you are concerned about specific data about your whereabouts, metadata that’s collectable almost everywhere you go, and perhaps you live somewhere where you’ve been dogged by speeding tickets, this could be the product for you.  We’re waiting for a demo ourselves.

photo credit: Rob-Wei via photopin cc