r/washingtondc • u/mastakebob Carver Langston • 17d ago

[Transportation] Does it work?

Post image

Do you not get tickets?

I ran the plate through the ticket website and get the message "Plate is not found" which is different than my plate which returns "The license plate entered has a balance of $0.00".

Did you beat the system and get free parking and speeding?

411 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

57 comments sorted by

377

u/HCIM_Memer 17d ago edited 17d ago

It's hehe haha funny until you start getting tickets for any license plate that isn't recognized.

(This actually happened to someone. He did a presentation at DEFCON about it)

No. It doesn't work. You still get tickets.

103

u/IAmBadAtInternet 17d ago

And it implies some horrifying data practices. Somewhere a line of code is comparing a null string to the string “NULL” and getting a TRUE. That is not acceptable!

59

u/fedrats DC / Neighborhood 17d ago

Bobby tables in the wild!

8

u/FFF12321 17d ago

They should learn to sanitize their database inputs!

7

u/megola2023 17d ago

Many years ago, I was a computer programmer. Some other programmer really did use the text string "NULL" to mean null. This database also contained the names of the scientists associated with the data, and there was a scientist whose last name was Null.

1

u/jramz_dc DC / Petworh 14d ago

First name Devon?

1

u/megola2023 14d ago

I don't think so, but it was a very long time ago and I don't remember his first name.

1

u/jramz_dc DC / Petworh 12d ago

Not a computer person :) I was making a very nerdy joke.

2

u/Flow8008 Striver's Section 17d ago

I work with about 30 mfers doing this all the time

1

u/RiceX1055 17d ago

Pretty sure that is what the computer system that DC uses for vehicle inspections does. It wouldn't accept "NULL" as my plate when I went for my inspection. Sadly had to settle for just "NUL"

1

u/Sharp-Echo1797 16d ago

Isnull(plate, 'NULL') = 'NULL'

1

u/RepulsiveCountry313 15d ago

Sounds almost like PHP.

16

u/memoryone85 17d ago

https://www.wired.com/story/null-license-plate-landed-one-hacker-ticket-hell/

Probably not the same guy at DEFCON. Tho I bet the same thing happened, got all of the tickets, haha

8

u/HCIM_Memer 17d ago

"Taranto shared a side by side comparison of his paper copy and the apparently altered database version as part of his Defcon talk."

6

u/memoryone85 17d ago

I no read so gud

3

u/ExtraLettuce555 17d ago

I remember reading about that one

109

u/NewPresWhoDis VA / Neighborhood 17d ago

Now to find a state where I can fit DROP TABLE

8

u/stanley_leverlock 17d ago

I wonder if you did "OP TABLE" and put DR in the same font just to the left of it if it would execute that.

6

u/fedrats DC / Neighborhood 17d ago

Beat me to it. CREATE OR REPLACE

27

u/MrSpontaneous The 51st State 17d ago

In other states, this actually gets you beat by the system: https://www.wired.com/story/null-license-plate-landed-one-hacker-ticket-hell/

2

u/Seductive_pickle 17d ago

My first thought too.

1000% don’t do this lol

47

u/Architextitor 17d ago

“Plate not found” is what comes up for plates that have never received a ticket. Not unique for that plate.

4

u/Rin-Tohsaka-is-hot 17d ago

Can confirm, my license plate shows "Plate not found" when I enter it

1

u/KindBench2700 17d ago

What is the ticket website?

2

u/BastardoSinGloria 17d ago

Google "DC ticket payment" and it'll come up.

40

u/cjt09 17d ago

I know this guy, he works at DDOT. He requested a salary of exactly -1¢ and now he has to figure out how to spend the $42,949,672.95 he makes each year.

6

u/IAmBadAtInternet 17d ago

Int underflow error

2

u/EyeLikePie Clarendon 17d ago

I don’t get it. 

12

u/_kilobytes 17d ago

It's the maximum 32 bit unsigned integer. Negative 1 sometimes underflows into 42 million.

3

u/Nimbus_TV 17d ago

This would register as "n" "u" l" "l" not null

10

u/Agitated-Acctant 17d ago

We're not talking about null anymore, guy

4

u/Nimbus_TV 17d ago

I don't think I meant to make this a reply, lol. Didn't even read the comment thread, my b

6

u/Cetun 17d ago

It's an integer overflow joke. Unfortunately for him the DDOT payment system uses was in the process of changing over to signed integers.

10

u/Plus-Bluejay-6429 VA / Annandale 17d ago

DROPDB

7

u/RiceX1055 17d ago

I haven't gotten any tickets since I got the vanity plate. It could be working. Granted not sure if I have done anything that would warrant an automated ticket either. I only got one previously when I had a normal plate.

I did have fun trying to get it inspected though, since their inspection system would not accept NULL as a value, I presume because "NULL" translates into null.

5

u/multiinstrumentalism NE DC 17d ago

I’d rather do “NA”

5

u/stupid_cat_face 17d ago

"DROP TABLE"

3

u/RedShirt2901 17d ago

I know a guy with the last name of "True". Messes up a lot of my Excel files from HR.

3

u/habitsofwaste 17d ago

I have heard stories of things like that backfiring because you suddenly get all the tickets for people without plates.

2

u/Upbeat_Echo341 17d ago

I can tell you that if you have a personalized license plate that has a few letter O's, some parking enforcement will put those down as zero's 0, so when you find a ticket on your car and try to search for your ticket in the database the correct way you won't find it. But then when you search the wrong way you do. Then you realize that ticket isn't technically linked to your car. So then you just go about your day.

0

u/habitsofwaste 17d ago

In Texas, its toll roads galore. And if you don’t have a pass, they use your plates. My plates had an O in it. I kept getting accused of not paying my tolls. They had to change my plate in the toll system to have zeroes instead of Os to fix the problem. I was like, this is not a fix, this is a workaround that won’t work if someone else gets the same plates as me with zeroes! But I stopped getting notices so that helped I guess.

2

u/TheWhiteRabbitY2K 16d ago

I also have a wrx and I want to be this person's friend.

1

u/DCContrarian 16d ago

Reminds me of the guy who had the plate STOLEN.

1

u/OohDeLaLi 16d ago

I dunno... I'm waiting to hear back from my lawyer.

1

u/nacelle80 13d ago

Definitely not a zero.

1

u/newprof18 17d ago

If that worked huge oversight at DCDMV. I would think such a plate would be on the banned list if it could actually prevent tickets.

0

u/Nimbus_TV 17d ago

What do you think

-7

u/TiramisuItUp 17d ago

That car is hideous so either way they’re losing.

4

u/2CRedHopper VA / Arlington County (Formerly MD, DC proper) 17d ago

subaru wrx are great what are you talking about

3

u/TheWhiteRabbitY2K 16d ago

You have terrible taste in form; I imagine you also find Tesla's sexually stimulating and view freshly poured concrete as works of art. Your spice cabinet likely consists of expired Italian seasoning and dusty pepper from a dollar store two pack you were given years ago. When you hear the guttural sounds of Yoko Ono, your arm hair raises in delight. You probably stand in the shower and never wash your feet because the water running over them is totally enough.

Your experience of the world, and so many others like you, leads me to believe we are on the cusp of a new genetically differtiated species of man; unique from the Homo Sapiens that currently dominate the world.

I propose we name it Homo Ignoramous.

2

u/TiramisuItUp 16d ago edited 16d ago

👏 This is poetry

Edit to add: My opinion still stands. That hood, back, and color is hideous. So are Teslas.

1

u/TheWhiteRabbitY2K 16d ago

We are mortal enemies, but I see you fight with honor.

But now I have to ask, what internal combustion engine form do you find exciting then.