Once a rarity, traffic cameras are filming away across the country. And they're not just focusing their sights on red-light runners.
Drivers -- many accusing law enforcement of using spy tactics to trap unsuspecting citizens -- are fighting back with everything from pick axes to camera-blocking Santa Clauses. They're moving beyond radar detectors and CB radios to wage their own tech war against detection, using sprays that promise to blur license numbers and Web sites that plot the cameras' locations and offer tips to beat them.
Municipalities are establishing ever-more-clever snares. New Haven, CT has put license-plate readers on tow trucks. They roam the streets searching for cars owned by people who haven't paid their parking tickets or car-property taxes.