Last time I went to China, a friend left her phone in a taxi (I guess a "didi") near a train station. She ran to the train station's police station, pestered them into looking at the recordings, got them to tell her the license plate of the car, and figure out how to call the driver. Her phone was back 20 minutes later.

If you're going to be surveilled 24/7, at least you gotta make it work for you.

▲

traceroute66 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> If you're going to be surveilled 24/7, at least you gotta make it work for you.

I don't get it.

There was CCTV at the station, your friend arrived in a taxi. And we're supposed to be amazed you can call up the taxi company and quote a numberplate off CCTV ?

Can be done anywhere in the world.

Would have been far more impressive story if she had arrived in a private car, dropped off by a work colleague or something.

▲

aitchnyu 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> figure out how to call the driver

Which country are you in where you cant take "call the driver" for granted?

▲

smw 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Going from license plate to phone number would be one hell of an endeavor in most US states.

▲

axus 5 hours ago | parent [-]

I expect the US police to have this capability; < 1% expectation that they would share it with a random citizen who walked in.

	▲	taneq 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		“Powerless to help you, not powerless to harm you.”

▲

InsideOutSanta 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I don't quite understand the question. If she had had her phone, she could have called the driver using the information from the didi app, but she had no phone, so she didn't know who to call.

	▲	taneq 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Herself, I’d have thought.