LA Police Admit That Red Light Camera Payments Are Now 'Voluntary'

from the if-you'd-like-to-contribute-to-the-police-red-light-fund... dept

We recently wrote about how LA was considering dumping its red light cameras, and Jay Matteo was the first of a few of you to let us know that, rather than getting rid of them entirely, the police appear to be publicly stating that paying any such red light camera fines is entirely optional:

Officials said that paying the fines was optional and the city had no legal power to force people to pay.

The tickets are part of a "voluntary payment program," without sanctions for those who fail to submit fines, said Richard M. Tefank, executive director of the city's Board of Police Commissioners.

"The consequence is somebody calling you from one of these collection agencies and saying 'pay up.' And that's it," said committee member and Councilman Bill Rosendahl. "There's no real penalty in terms of your driver's license or any other consequences if you don't pay."

Of course, they never said that publicly before, and those who already paid can't take back their money, but it's still quite a revelation for the police to make.

Filed Under: la, red light cameras, voluntary

Local News Website Says You Need To Pay To Read Its Stories, Says It's Collecting Visitor IPs To Sue

from the that'll-go-over-well dept

Well, here's a fun one. Apparently, there's a local news site known as The North Country Gazette (don't click that just yet...) covering parts of upstate New York via a blog format. Rather than putting in place an actual technical paywall, the site has apparently decided to go with a paywall-by-threat model. If you visit a story on the site, it tells you that you're only allowed to view one page for free, and then they expect you to pay up: Gotta love that Comic Sans font -- in red, no less. Anyway, if you do "abuse the privilege," apparently you come up against the following (which now appears to have been taken down, perhaps due to all of the attention): In case you can't see/read the image, it reads:

A subscription is required at North Country Gazette. We allow only one free read per visitor. We are currently gathering IPs and computer info on persistent intruders who refuse to buy subscription and are engaging in a theft of services. We have engaged an attorney who will be doing a bulk subpoena demand on each ISP involved, particularly Verizon Droids, Frontier and Road Runner, and will then pursue individual legal actions.

Where to start? First, I love how "Verizon Droid" (a phone) is included in the list of ISPs. But, more to the point, this site seems to believe that if it just says you can only visit once without paying, and you don't, it has the right to then use your IP to sue you for "theft of services." I'd love to see how well that plays out in court.

Filed Under: ip, paywalls, threats, voluntary