Not always a good idea
https://www.wired.com/story/null-license-plate-landed-one-hacker-ticket-hell/
How the heck does a system interpret a string value null as a literal null? That seems insane to me that there really is software out there written like this. “null” != null… Or so I thought, maybe there are languages out there that this can happen in easily? Or someone is storing the string value of null in a non nullable database column?
May I introduce you to our lord and savior JavaScript?
But even in JavaScript a string representation of null is not equal to a null literal. ‘null’ or “null” are not the same as null
Javas Christ.
Paywalled
God that’s such a good idea. Would it work the same if I did #N/A?
Only if your DMV does everything in Excel, so… maybe?
according to Tartaro, he says he received a notice that the California DMV would not let him renew his registration unless he actually paid some of those fines.
that sounds so illegal. but i am not an american, so what do i know.
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Did you read the article? All those fines were from other people, erroneously applied to him when the police officer didn’t fill in the information on the citation.
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The standard is to assume innocence, not assume guilt
I doubt the guy had several different car makes on hand to commit some sort of nationwide parking violation spree with the same plate but different cars in places where it’s impossible to even drive between the two places in the time between both timestamps.
“There’s no way to know if he used the plate on dozens of vehicles in dozens of states, some at the same time.”
So then he’s innocent, case closed.
“There’s no way to prove him guilty so he should have to pay!”
Huh? They’re not his fines. The software is just shit so it puts all fines with no license plate as matching his.
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ok, but while that is wild in itself, i assume that is under the assumption of them actually being your tickets. here we talk about situation where they demand the hero pays someone else’s tickets just because of the fault of their system.
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“He had it coming,” says Christopher Null, a journalist who has written previously for WIRED about the challenges his last name presents.
This is peak nottheonion material
