California's New E-Ink License Plates (with built-in tracking)

We talked about digital drivers' licenses, and now there are digital license plates...

California is now testing a unique license plate option: a digital license plate that sports a Kindle-like E-ink display. Here’s the basic run down of the new (currently in pilot-testing) license plates. The plate can be changed automatically - but not to switch out your license number like you’re a spy racing across international borders - to update the displayed registration data and (theoretically if the State of California approves) display advertisements or other data when the car is stopped.

In addition to the flexibility of the display, the digital plates also sport a tracking device that will alert the police to the location of a stolen vehicle and allow for general vehicle tracking. (KGTV 10, April 20, 2018).
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With the current price of the e-Link plate ($699 + $7 monthly connection fee) few people are signing up for them. But, this may change as the cost comes down, and may in time become the standard license plate format.

The tracking ability built into these plates creates significant privacy issues.  As we have previously seen, license plate tracking of our current standard plate is a concern. Having automatic vehicle tracking built into the license plate of the future is a privacy nightmare.

And now Washington State is in the early stages, considering whether to adopt these digital plates. The plates will cost about $300 in WA, and come with the same concerns about government tracking and data privacy.