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California Turns Its Residents Against Each Other Through 'CHEATERS' Program
It wasn't that long ago that I noted here that Austin, Texas, was rolling out a program called "Parking Mobility" that I thought "seem[ed] like a surefire way for some do-gooder citizen to get his or her butt kicked." Parking Mobility essentially deputizes Austinites into being vigilante meter maids who can turn each other in using an iPhone app.
Now, California is getting in on the fun of turning its residents against one another through its "CHEATERS" program. In California, CBS 5 reports (via Consumerist), new residents have 20 days to register their car after moving into the state. Many drivers fail to do so, however, due to the state's high registration fees.
CHEATERS, an acronym for "Californians Help Eliminate All The Evasive Registration Scofflaws," is a state initiative that provides a website through which Californians can enter key information about their neighbors and others who are still driving around with their out-of-state tags well after the 20-day grace period has passed. Do-gooders (or troublemakers) can simply go to the website, enter the scofflaw's tag number and state, the vehicle's make and model, and a bit of other information, and then just sit back and wait for the California police to roll in to their neighbor's driveway to hand them a $400 ticket for their transgression.
CBS 5 reports that in 2011, the CHEATERS program resulted in three-quarters of a million dollars in registration fees.
Posted by Bruce Carton on August 16, 2012 at 04:49 PM | Permalink
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