I spent a decade in the parking technology space. (Co-founder PayByPhone -- don't hate me, I genuinely tried to make things more civilized and convenient, I swear!). Anyways, I miss hearing about hilarious and genius hacks and escalations like this. The brilliance deployed to work around parking regulations is amazing.
Not condoning, but here's a (naive?) though experiment if the Barnacle shows up in use again... Park your car and cover it. Many car covers have cable locks to prevent removal and openings to expose plates for legal/bylaw reasons, so this should be permissible. This may provide protection from sun, frost, birdshit, and now Barnacles(tm)! My assumption is that parking enforcers don't have permission to modify, remove, or damage property on a parked car like this.
Of course, there's always a tow-truck. Or you could pay for the parking you use, but I respect the hacker spirit!
The problem is not paying for the parking I use. That is an easy problem to solve, as long as the price is "reasonable".
The problem I have with parking authorities is fraud. When the meter employee gives me a ticket for a different meter, or when the parking ticket fine is $200 instead of say $30, or when the restrictions are absurd/vague ("You can park here for 2 hours m-f except holidays except 9-11 except in green spots except you have to display the ticket in your window except you need to be 6 inches but not 12 inches from the curb except except except except")...
... then this is the part where I start to suspect I'm not paying for the parking I'm using, but instead I am paying for someone else's large and undeserved profit.
Parking technology must be full of fascinating stories. It's pretty much everyman against the faceless administration.
I once parked at a smart meter, but it wouldn't take my coins. I put a note on the windshield, went inside for a short bit and came out to a missing note replaced by a parking ticket.
I came to realize that the "smart' meter wasn't registering a car in the spot, so it would just eat the coins. I took a video of this and wrote to the parking authority (rejected), then took the video to the parking authority, then finally gave up and paid it. I think I was entitled to a final hearing but I didn't have the time. It was a little like wrestling a pig.
I want you to know that I extended my parking space from my treadmill at Barry's today. Your company is great, bro. The Android app is less great, it just keeps crashing, but the functionality from the company itself is great (since I can just use the website).
It definitely is more civilized and convenient. Great service. Totally happy. You should be proud.
I find PayByPhone pretty convenient, especially now that it's got a few years of polish on the app. The key thing is that the signs are legible, and have the number you care about (parking zone?) right there in bold print. And hey, - at least that money isn't going to Impark.
No hate warranted at all! Thank you for your contribution to the world.
You’ve routinely enabled me to park when I didn’t have the change, or avoid standing outside on hot summer days coaxing a semi-functional parking machine to spit out the right ticket.
On one occasion it even helped me pay for my SO’s parking from hundreds of miles away.
Hi, I'm a fan of PayByPhone! If you're partying with friends, you can exchange PayByPhone QR codes and pay each others' meters when the time is up without moving your cars.
My SUS company, EasyALPR focuses on commercial parking enforcement / vehicle control.
First, the people who get "in trouble" are often absolutely brazen in their unfair use of common parking. They're warned multiple times and even when given a "last chance" notice they'll just keep breaking rules.
At that point you have to TOW them. And let me tell you, a TOW is something you can't lampoon or get free internet off of. Towing SUCKS and drivers bend the knee after this happens. I have data to prove it!
Anyhow, another thing about these folks is that they will go so far as to dispute that the vehicle was in fact in violation of whatever parking rule.
They'll say the warnings were not real and the tow reason was definitely not real. They'll tell the business IT needs to pay for the tow. Well, their faces change when confronted with photos and maps and times showing each violation!
It isn't really that funny, but it is a big deal to any facility because some low-level administrator has to face some really pissed off people who will break rules and lie because it has always worked. So it is really important to give them great evidence so there isn't really a discussion needed.
OK, the actual design of the thing where it just uses suction is incredibly idiotic, but the kid who got free wireless internet for months by taking its sim card - that's pretty brilliant.
The alternative, tire boots, are equally asinine and more likely to damage the car. These seem fractionally better up to the point where they are hacked. Unessarily connected devices are a liability beyond measure, and it floors me that nobody seems to notice.
When I first saw these touted a few years ago I'd imagined they would be fairly trivial to bypass.
- light oil or penetrating oil can be used to bypass the gasket. If it will remove decals or stickers, this thing doesnt stand a chance.
- exploiting the coefficient of expansion for gasses (as these brilliant students did) is absolutely an option.
- keeping your windshield wipers up would prevent use of the device.
- running some 4lb test fishing line taped against your windshield would allow, once placed, the gasket to be defeated by just lifting up on it.
and as always, remember, manufacturers are bound to use a specific set of locks and bolts. Torx security are inexpensive and a barrel lock impression tool is about ten dollars.
disclosure: As an automotive mechanics apprentice, ive had to remove way more tenacious crap from windshields than this thing.
I think penetrating oil would be counterintuitive, as it would just provide a better airtight seal, your best bet in that case is that we would slide more easily and maybe up and over the window edge gasket to break the seal
There's an entire industry of selling snake-oil Batman shit like this to law enforcement/mall cops. It's a delightful fusion of ill will, they operate with minimal oversight and get to take advantage of government (procurement), law enforcement (mostly ignorant of tech), and the good 'ol citizenry (cast as cattle as usual).
I love how, when one of these places recruits you, it takes forever to learn what they're about, because their website is nothing but euphemisms.
Am I the only one who thinks this is wrong? An alternative headline could be something like, "Entitled College Kids Learn How To Keep Parking Like Assholes Without Paying Fines."
And it's a pyrhic victory anyway, because chances are now the cars will get one of the metal tire boots put on, or get towed. Both of which are more expensive and a bigger hassle for everybody.
The issue I have is cases like at my school where they basically had entrapment. At the start of every year there'd be like 2-3 months where it's a free for all and students could park wherever. The certainty was nowhere near adequate parking and not everywhere that people parked was readily obvious to be illegal. Some spots had the yellow on the curb worn away 90%, others were things like too close to a corner or hydrant by everyone was doing it those 2-3 months that you get used to it and think it's okay and when there's no other spots left you park in one of those spaces (kind of like when people start creating a new parking lane in the center of a full parking lot).
After a few months of no enforcement and letting the students get used to parking like this, then they'll crack down with brutal enforcement. I'm talking about them sniping you a few minutes after you walk away. Every year they'd reset and do the same thing over again to get some fresh meat.
I don't know the situation, but I could easily imagine parking violations being common where parking is inadequate. Instead of improving the situation, the school simply rakes in money.
Why are college kids driving in the first place? Are there not enough apartments nearby to rent a room in walking/cycling/shuttle range? Isn't that a pretty foreseeable need when choosing a site for a university?
I can understand this problem if you're serving a lot of nontraditional students who already have households, but not with 18-22 year old full time students.
Yeah, but further down in the article it mentioned that students illegally parked junkyard cards to get booted so that all the boots would be in use when the cops found someone's actual vehicle they wouldn't have any boots left.
> Both of which are more expensive and a bigger hassle for everybody.
That's the point. The university was crowing about how they deployed 40000 of these things already. They wouldn't be able to tow 40000 people as easily.
Entitled College Kids Learn How To Keep Parking Like Assholes Without Paying Fines."
In the UK parking at NHS hospitals is a lucrative revenue stream for parking companies - they toss the NHS a few pennies to justify it but it’s exploitation of those in an emotional state, such as visiting a very sick relative, or even picking up someone to take home. Any techniques developed to defeat those parasites is a public good.
I hate people who don't park in a proper spot or who just leave the car in a garage in a spot next to the door all summer while they leave town/country like used to happen at my old university but I see this more as "college spends money on some high tech device that is easily circumvented and has poor security" than as college students screwing over the system.
meh - one can argue with the advent of the internet the entire college system is a farce. College at this point is just for building your network and securing that “dream job” because employers like to check off those boxes instead of actually finding qualified applicants.
Although there is one thing that you can’t teach or learn which is having common sense or the ability to apply theories in practice.
At another university, if you were a TA, you would have a “faculty” account flag, which would give you another option to pay any parking fines—deduction from your paycheck. Except TAs don’t have paycheck. The system would deduct from 0, and would not go negative but still count the fine as paid.
I don't believe campus police actually has any legal power. It also isn't the police department's SIM card, Barnacle owns it - of course it's still considered theft.
It seems difficult to crack down on removing the things. It sounds like they're easy enough to detach that even people who aren't the owner might steal them, or at least break into them for the unlimited SIM card.
Thanks so much to the university for coming up with the barnacle or I would have missed these really brilliant hacks that seemed to keep improving one after the other. Parking 12 scrappy car was so low-tech and yet so effective but juicing the sim card for months has to be appreciated for going the extra mile.
> Obviously, some students thought that fee was ridiculous – just like paying for parking at a university where you’re already paying a hefty tuition fee
I hate parking fees as much as the next person, and totally appreciate the creativity of the people who defeated this device.
However, how should we handle distributing a limited number of parking spaces when there are more people who want to park than available spaces?
If we just say "free to park anywhere!", then there is a good chance you come to school and can't park anywhere (especially if you are not there super early)
You could do a lottery, I guess, but then people who don't need parking might enter the lottery and then sell their spot... making parking even more expensive.
Parking fees seem like a fair way to distribute the limited resource.
Quote: "The company’s CEO says improvements have been made to counter these hacks already, but we’re curious to see where this parking arms race heads next."
Me too, lol. Can't wait to see as well, I mean you put your low solution vs students who eat this stuff as hobby and you think you'll best them? good luck there Mr. CEO
This reminds me of when I was in Hawaii visiting my brother who lived in a high rise building. This was years ago so all I had ever know was the lock and key but his building had key cards and the doors would just unlock with the swipe of a card and you could go to your unit. He explained they are just magnetically locked. I asked well couldn't you just pry them open? We decided to try and sure enough with 2 of use we were able to pull past the strong electromagnet. It didn't really seem overly hard I am sure a strong person could do it alone.
"a user who found out his campus only had 12 wheel boots to go around and bought and illegally parked 12 scrapyard cars that could be “sacrificed” so everyone else could park however they wanted."
Yes, this way the people who ignore parking fines can keep filling spaces, of which there are now 12 less.
Sure, it's a fun example how simple tricks can beat complicated devices, but this only benefits the people who willfully take up valuable parking space that others might want.
It's only a matter of time before the university will switch back to the boot, risking more damage to everybody's cars, or to good old towing, dragging up the price of getting your car back.
Everybody loses because of a few childish students showing off how they're so much smarter than the system.
It is downright amazing how much information asymmetry is seen as a prerequisite to maintain law and order.
For instance, implementation details of devices being leaked are a surefire way of obviating any mitigatory measure employed to coerce cooperation out of an uninformed population.
The irony of this happening at a University, an Institution centered around equipping people with the tools they need to overcome information asymmetry, is not lost on me.
[+] [-] emptybits|6 years ago|reply
Not condoning, but here's a (naive?) though experiment if the Barnacle shows up in use again... Park your car and cover it. Many car covers have cable locks to prevent removal and openings to expose plates for legal/bylaw reasons, so this should be permissible. This may provide protection from sun, frost, birdshit, and now Barnacles(tm)! My assumption is that parking enforcers don't have permission to modify, remove, or damage property on a parked car like this.
Of course, there's always a tow-truck. Or you could pay for the parking you use, but I respect the hacker spirit!
[+] [-] quaquaqua1|6 years ago|reply
The problem I have with parking authorities is fraud. When the meter employee gives me a ticket for a different meter, or when the parking ticket fine is $200 instead of say $30, or when the restrictions are absurd/vague ("You can park here for 2 hours m-f except holidays except 9-11 except in green spots except you have to display the ticket in your window except you need to be 6 inches but not 12 inches from the curb except except except except")...
... then this is the part where I start to suspect I'm not paying for the parking I'm using, but instead I am paying for someone else's large and undeserved profit.
[+] [-] m463|6 years ago|reply
I once parked at a smart meter, but it wouldn't take my coins. I put a note on the windshield, went inside for a short bit and came out to a missing note replaced by a parking ticket.
I came to realize that the "smart' meter wasn't registering a car in the spot, so it would just eat the coins. I took a video of this and wrote to the parking authority (rejected), then took the video to the parking authority, then finally gave up and paid it. I think I was entitled to a final hearing but I didn't have the time. It was a little like wrestling a pig.
[+] [-] arjie|6 years ago|reply
It definitely is more civilized and convenient. Great service. Totally happy. You should be proud.
[+] [-] ringzero|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gambiting|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] divbzero|6 years ago|reply
No hate warranted at all! Thank you for your contribution to the world.
You’ve routinely enabled me to park when I didn’t have the change, or avoid standing outside on hot summer days coaxing a semi-functional parking machine to spit out the right ticket.
On one occasion it even helped me pay for my SO’s parking from hundreds of miles away.
[+] [-] wdr1|6 years ago|reply
I can't imagine what your life is like...
[+] [-] intopieces|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] throwawaybcpark|6 years ago|reply
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do an AMA somewhere (even in this thread)
1. What do you think about products like SpotHero & others? (Can those comp
2. Do you think parking lots will be an attractive investment in the future? (Autonomous or bet on it for next while)
[+] [-] gnopgnip|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] BoorishBears|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bredren|6 years ago|reply
First, the people who get "in trouble" are often absolutely brazen in their unfair use of common parking. They're warned multiple times and even when given a "last chance" notice they'll just keep breaking rules.
At that point you have to TOW them. And let me tell you, a TOW is something you can't lampoon or get free internet off of. Towing SUCKS and drivers bend the knee after this happens. I have data to prove it!
Anyhow, another thing about these folks is that they will go so far as to dispute that the vehicle was in fact in violation of whatever parking rule.
They'll say the warnings were not real and the tow reason was definitely not real. They'll tell the business IT needs to pay for the tow. Well, their faces change when confronted with photos and maps and times showing each violation!
It isn't really that funny, but it is a big deal to any facility because some low-level administrator has to face some really pissed off people who will break rules and lie because it has always worked. So it is really important to give them great evidence so there isn't really a discussion needed.
If you want to check out my product, here's the landing page: https://easyalpr.com/products/parking-enforcer
[+] [-] hn_throwaway_99|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Jamwinner|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] AJ007|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nimbius|6 years ago|reply
- light oil or penetrating oil can be used to bypass the gasket. If it will remove decals or stickers, this thing doesnt stand a chance.
- exploiting the coefficient of expansion for gasses (as these brilliant students did) is absolutely an option.
- keeping your windshield wipers up would prevent use of the device.
- running some 4lb test fishing line taped against your windshield would allow, once placed, the gasket to be defeated by just lifting up on it.
and as always, remember, manufacturers are bound to use a specific set of locks and bolts. Torx security are inexpensive and a barrel lock impression tool is about ten dollars.
disclosure: As an automotive mechanics apprentice, ive had to remove way more tenacious crap from windshields than this thing.
[+] [-] StavrosK|6 years ago|reply
Until the person putting the thing on just raised them.
[+] [-] petee|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] crystaldev|6 years ago|reply
I love how, when one of these places recruits you, it takes forever to learn what they're about, because their website is nothing but euphemisms.
[+] [-] jlarocco|6 years ago|reply
And it's a pyrhic victory anyway, because chances are now the cars will get one of the metal tire boots put on, or get towed. Both of which are more expensive and a bigger hassle for everybody.
[+] [-] hanniabu|6 years ago|reply
After a few months of no enforcement and letting the students get used to parking like this, then they'll crack down with brutal enforcement. I'm talking about them sniping you a few minutes after you walk away. Every year they'd reset and do the same thing over again to get some fresh meat.
[+] [-] pix64|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] closeparen|6 years ago|reply
I can understand this problem if you're serving a lot of nontraditional students who already have households, but not with 18-22 year old full time students.
[+] [-] uncletaco|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Lammy|6 years ago|reply
That's the point. The university was crowing about how they deployed 40000 of these things already. They wouldn't be able to tow 40000 people as easily.
[+] [-] goatinaboat|6 years ago|reply
In the UK parking at NHS hospitals is a lucrative revenue stream for parking companies - they toss the NHS a few pennies to justify it but it’s exploitation of those in an emotional state, such as visiting a very sick relative, or even picking up someone to take home. Any techniques developed to defeat those parasites is a public good.
[+] [-] jccalhoun|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] WarOnPrivacy|6 years ago|reply
I couldn't be more proud.
[+] [-] xyst|6 years ago|reply
Although there is one thing that you can’t teach or learn which is having common sense or the ability to apply theories in practice.
[+] [-] lxchase|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ISL|6 years ago|reply
Likewise, putting the police-department's SIM in your phone has some pretty clear downsides.
[+] [-] lacker|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eptcyka|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nitwit005|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rkhacker|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cortesoft|6 years ago|reply
I hate parking fees as much as the next person, and totally appreciate the creativity of the people who defeated this device.
However, how should we handle distributing a limited number of parking spaces when there are more people who want to park than available spaces?
If we just say "free to park anywhere!", then there is a good chance you come to school and can't park anywhere (especially if you are not there super early)
You could do a lottery, I guess, but then people who don't need parking might enter the lottery and then sell their spot... making parking even more expensive.
Parking fees seem like a fair way to distribute the limited resource.
[+] [-] philshem|6 years ago|reply
https://twitter.com/saallyjohnsonn/status/121719070339206758...
[+] [-] aninteger|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] selfishgene|6 years ago|reply
"No Parking Fees EVER!"
Know someone that got a master's degree from the comfort of his own living room for under $10K and is now earning a decent six-digit salary.
[+] [-] unnouinceput|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Scoundreller|6 years ago|reply
I’m sure the defrost trick works in winter, but it won’t work as well in summer.
[+] [-] 14|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] awillen|6 years ago|reply
Not all heroes wear capes.
[+] [-] jeroenhd|6 years ago|reply
Sure, it's a fun example how simple tricks can beat complicated devices, but this only benefits the people who willfully take up valuable parking space that others might want.
It's only a matter of time before the university will switch back to the boot, risking more damage to everybody's cars, or to good old towing, dragging up the price of getting your car back.
Everybody loses because of a few childish students showing off how they're so much smarter than the system.
[+] [-] Thriptic|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chrisseaton|6 years ago|reply
Taking up spaces with abandoned cars is a particularly miserable thing to do that makes the original underlying problem worse!
[+] [-] unknown|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] salawat|6 years ago|reply
For instance, implementation details of devices being leaked are a surefire way of obviating any mitigatory measure employed to coerce cooperation out of an uninformed population.
The irony of this happening at a University, an Institution centered around equipping people with the tools they need to overcome information asymmetry, is not lost on me.
[+] [-] millzlane|6 years ago|reply