The Barnacle

[J.Mencalice]

Leave it to Pennsylvania to come up with this thing.  "Parking Wars" was hilarious whenever it focused on Philadelphia Parking Authority's tow lot theatrics for people who were trying to get their vehicles out of hock.  On street confrontations were sometimes a bit tense whenever someone was getting the boot.
Anyone here ever get booted?  Cum'on, 'fess up if you did!

http://www.denverpost.com/2017/09/14/parking-barnacle-replace-denver-boot-windshield/

I do see a keypad on the top of it and so some whiz kid will eventually figure out the rubik's cube inside, then post it on the internet, or drill it and hit it with some liquid nitrogen.
Some Philly fanatic will eventually deliver one of them to doorstep the PPA offices; you can count on it.
Perfect name for it!
 

[Jess from VA]

https://cdn.forconstructionpros.com/files/base/acbm/fcp/image/2014/12/960w/tsa_230_studio_right_001_r1.547cd30d3e7ef.jpg

[Serk]

Hmmm... Wonder how much those cost... The trolling possibilities would be endless!

For removal... Hair dryer on the inside to excise the air in the suction cups and expand it, reducing suction?

Long slim blade to slide in and separate the suction cup from the windshield?

If the tickets/fines are high enough just smash the windshield and buy a replacement windshield, they're not THAT expensive.

Drill holes straight through it and into the suction cups to break the suction?

Or there's always this option:

[old2soon]

New W/S installed here where I live is a hundred dollars. And he shows up in his truck to change it out. Far as that barnacle goes some dweeb computer nerd will have it figured out most ricky tick. Or some pissed off ex employee will release the secret. RIDE SAFE.

[Serk]

goes some dweeb computer nerd

We prefer to be referred to as geeks...

[solo1]

When I worked at Magnavox, they used a much simpler way to stop violators. A BIG adhesive sheet on the windshield .  It took a long time to peel it off as it would break up into many pieces.

No need to followup with fancy electronics, etc.  It made the violator late to get home.

[Jess from VA]

Here's a novel idea.  Pay or fight your parking (and moving) violations before the clock runs out.

Like many problems, they don't just go away if you ignore them.

And if you live in an urban area where booting, towing, yada is commonplace.... it's not like it should be a big surprise. 

Now if you get booted for some secret squirrel (first offense) kind of parking violation (no parking on Tuesday afternoons if it's raining, but no signs), then cut the thing off.   Try to make sure you are not on camera, and don't answer any questions when they come to your house.  And don't leave the grinder sitting out in plain view.

[John Schmidt]

Years ago I had a friend that got booted, was up in the NE states but don't recall just where. The car wasn't his main transportation, was just a beater he picked up for $100, had it for nearly 10 yrs. and barely ran. But, it got him from point A to B "most" of the time. He called a local junkyard, had them come pick it up and haul it away and got it crushed and chopped up in under 3 hours, no evidence remained of any sort...including the boot. Turned out my friend and the guy that ran the junkyard were old high school and college buddies. When the cops came knocking, my buddy "had no idea" what they were talking about, things went round and round for a few months and finally(as he tells it) the city decided it was costing them more to push the issue than the amount of the tickets. His newer car....let's just say he was much more obedient of the parking laws with that one. I didn't live in the area at the time but some of our mutual acquaintances told me all about it. 

[MarkT]

Looks like it might be a better device than the Denver Boot which I'm pretty sure you could cut off with a high speed grinder either battery or AC with an inverter. This device has built-in comms which will rat you out if you tamper with it. I've never been "booted" - I don't illegally park, or scofflaw traffic / parking violations. But these yahoos want to use it to immobilize you for other reasons - unrelated to the vehicle.  Seems like rights violations to me.  Suppose your wife uses the car too.  etc. Or if the use of it is otherwise inappropriate like Jess's "secret squirrel" use.  Someone will hack it.  It's another tech arm's race.  Betcha you can find the hack pretty soon on youtube.