from: http://photoradarscam.com/news.php
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/traffic-camera-mayhem-prompts-court-saga/story-e6frf7jo-1225841133361

Traffic camera mayhem prompts court saga

Anthony Dowsley
From: Herald Sun
March 17, 2010 12:00AM

SPEED thresholds could be secretly adjusted and the traffic camera system sabotaged by remote control, a court has heard.

The claims have surfaced in a Supreme Court hearing in which camera operator VIPAC is fighting for the right to seize the personal computers of two former employees.
VIPAC alleges they downloaded crucial programs before leaving the company and now have access to the state's system of cameras. The Supreme Court heard in February the pair could take control of the system via remote control, turning the system off and on and resetting speed thresholds. It heard they could even crash the system by inserting a virus.

There is no allegation, however, that the defendants have accessed or tampered with the state's speed cameras.

Daniel Aghion, for VIPAC, told the Supreme Court on February 19 his client did not know the intentions of the defendants.

"Yes, the evidence is that the cameras could be turned on and off, the speed thresholds could be reset, so that is to say they could be set for 10km an hour and they take photos of everything," he said.

Justice Elliott Croft replied: "Imagine the chaos it would cause."

Mr Aghion also told the court: "We don't know the intentions of (the) defendants. It could be industrial sabotage, it could be for competitive reasons, it could be to embarrass my client for some reason. It might be some vendetta, not against us but against the Department of Justice - we really don't know why the defendants at this stage have done this."

The State Government pays VIPAC $4.5 million to run the system.

VIPAC wants to seize the personal laptops the programs were allegedly downloaded on to.

It is unknown whether VIPAC has moved to try to block the former employees from accessing the system.

VIPAC did not return phone calls last night.

A Department of Justice spokesman said last night the camera system was not compromised by what she said was a dispute between a private company and its employees

"There is no risk of unauthorised access as result of this dispute," she said.

A spokeswoman for Police Minister Bob Cameron said the Government had been assured by the Department of Justice that no unauthorised person can access the system.


 

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Title
Comment	smaller | bigger
Name
Email
Write the displayed characters
Subscribe via email (registered users only)
	Add Comment Preview