What Could Go Wrong?

“GM app will let you scan a license plate then text that driver,” Automotive News reports:

Ever look at something and think, “Who the heck thought this was a good idea?” No? Well, you’re about to. General Motors’ Chinese research and development division has come up with a new Android app that will allow people to scan license plates and send messages to the vehicle’s owner, regardless of whether the other driver has downloaded the app.

It’s called DiDi Plate, and aside from the privacy concerns (which, we know, don’t mean a lot in the People’s Republic), the potential for abuse here is huge. Drivers could be easily harassed, whether they deserve to be or not, while we can imagine a cottage advertising industry popping up, with people that simply scan plates and send messages to drivers on behalf of local businesses.

Oh and speaking of China, some interesting factoids here. The nation that once monolithically dressed its Inner Party members in drab gray Mao suits now consumes “more Guccis and Bulgaris and Louis Vuittons than the rest of the world combined:”

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(Via Ace of Spades.)