Whats with blurring out license plates?

I have never understood this and everyone who has given me a reason, more or less just sounds like paranoia.

Your license plate is seen by hundreds of people a week (for most people). So if it's up on the internet, whats the difference? Are you worried that some creep will find out where you live if they can run your plate through the DMV system and come and kill you in the night? Somebody who sees your plate at the grocery store parking lot could do the same thing.

Can you even run peoples license plates? I wouldn't even know how to. That's why I think it's a little ridiculous to get all paranoid about blurring out your plates online.

I just say this because I saw somebody on another forum get flamed for leaving the plates on the car he was helping sell for an old lady. The car was in Texas and he told them that the plates have to stay with the car, because that's how it is in Texas. Then they all gave him E36 M3 over not blurring the plates out.

I dont understand the blurring either. I just leave the plates showing on pictures, I can care less if someone want to look up where I live.

PD is way ahead

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_number_plate_recognition

The only reasonable explanation I've ever heard, other than paranoia, is for guys competing with their cars that are still under warranty.

And that seems like a stretch to me.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: ...Can you even run peoples license plates? I wouldn't even know how to. That's why I think it's a little ridiculous to get all paranoid about blurring out your plates online....

At least not in CA, after the murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Schaeffer

In 1989, after viewing Schaeffer's film Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills in which she appeared in bed with a male actor, Bardo became enraged and decided that Schaeffer should be punished for becoming "another Hollywood whore".[9] Learning that Theresa Saldana's stalker, Arthur Richard Jackson, had used a private investigator to obtain Saldana's address, Bardo approached a detective agency in Tucson and paid them $250 to find Schaeffer's home address in California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) records.[10][11] Bardo's brother helped him get a Ruger GP100 .357-caliber handgun because he was underage at the time (Bardo was then 19).[12]

Following Schaeffer's murder and Saldana's assault, California laws regarding the release of personal information through the DMV were drastically changed. The Driver's Privacy Protection Act was enacted in 1994, which prevents the DMV from releasing private addresses

Where's my tinfoil hat?

I know that in some places if you put a for sale sign on your car it's nearly guaranteed to be vandalized or destroyed. Living one of those places I think I would want to make it more difficult for someone to know that a particular car is the one that's posted for sale somewhere online.

Wow, nice neighborhood. Why wait until a car is for sale to vandalize or destroy it? What's the specific trigger?

I enjoy the guys who flip their plates around backwards when they're at autocrosses to hide their identity. Embossed plates. Yeah, that makes it impossible to read.

Judging by the e-mails I get from my family about privacy there are a lot of paranoid people out there. Many of them would blur out their plate in a picture if they knew how, but will shout their credit card number and other info into their cell phone in the middle of a crowd. If there were criminals lurking everywhere to take advantage of you which would be more useful?

i manage info for a living.

its just a fact of technology these days, but any chance you get to stymie any chance of collecting, or cross-associating your identifying info should be taken.

the problem is that its never a magic-bullet that is alone enough to get you in trouble in the information world, its the ability to piece it all together.

so any chance you have to firewall the info, you should.

oldopelguy wrote: I know that in some places if you put a for sale sign on your car it's nearly guaranteed to be vandalized or destroyed. Living one of those places I think I would want to make it more difficult for someone to know that a particular car is the one that's posted for sale somewhere online.

If this is the case, I think you should sell your house, not your car

madmallard wrote: i manage info for a living. its just a fact of technology these days, but any chance you get to stymie any chance of collecting, or cross-associating your identifying info should be taken. the problem is that its never a magic-bullet that is alone enough to get you in trouble in the information world, its the ability to piece it all together. so any chance you have to firewall the info, you should.

I guess the point still stands, you're more vulnerable driving around than you are online for license plate info.

I only blank out the plate for artistic reasons, such as this:

But most of the time, it's just going to be seen in real life anyhow, so why bother?

If your insurance agent sees a pic of your car prominently displayed in video of you hooning about Watkins Glen in a sea of traffic he might get you dropped before you file a claim. I have seen a Progressive car taking pics at NJMP so paranoid or no, I'm not posting pics that I can never get back until they are generic.

From a less innocent perspective... you are vulnerable forever in that online pic you posted on FB where you hit a dumpster driving drunk but reported to your insurance company that you found it that way when you came out of work the next day.

Lots of reasons for scrubbing a photo, not too many against it, really.

Re: autocross, rallycross, etc.

Duct Tape over plate!

For showing pics - I blur the plate. I am not a tinfoil hat person, but there is already too much info about most people on the net.

Remember, just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

Me? I'm paranoid.

But if they're personalized that takes the fun out of it.

NGTD wrote: Re: autocross, rallycross, etc. Duct Tape over plate! For showing pics - I blur the plate. I am not a tinfoil hat person, but there is already too much info about most people on the net.

Or. Um. Remove the 2 screws?

If you have spent a considerable amount of time and/or money on your ride, I can see wanting to show it off online, but not wanting to make quickly/easily identifiable to would be thieves, law enforcement, or insurance companies lurking on automotive forums. This would especially true if the car is built to be a sleeper.

I took a picture of the back of my bike and had to cover the plate, not because I'm paranoid, but because the reflectiveness from the flash was washing out.

poopshovel wrote:

NGTD wrote: Re: autocross, rallycross, etc. Duct Tape over plate! For showing pics - I blur the plate. I am not a tinfoil hat person, but there is already too much info about most people on the net.

Or. Um. Remove the 2 screws?

I live in Ontario, Canada - rust! Duct tape is easier than snapping off the screws and not being able to get the plate back on to go home.

Insurance companies started dropping Ontario drivers who auto-crossed or ran track days a few years back, and continue to do so. Which is why Inside Track was printing results with the first name and last initial.

Also in Ontario; a 'totally legal' motorcycle club.

Allegedly. "According to the biased and inaccurate, huge number of news articles and T.V. reports..."

Were paying off police in the Niagara Region to run plates for sale online around Ontario, and give them addresses.

Allegedly, after obtaining the address attached to the plate. Someone (who I assume had no connection to the motorcycle enthusiasts). Would "assume ownership of the vehicle"....

Most people with theft insurance, would be content to have in essence "SOLD THEIR CAR"!! and not make a big deal about it...

The others were sometimes told that it was in their best interest to just "deal with the new ownership". Fortunately, this has recently changed... Unless you own a transport truck.....

The owner of the truck in the article below, was told by the police, it would be in his best interests to withdraw his report the of truck being stolen and just be happy he has it back

http://www.niagarathisweek.com/news-story/3261149-stolen-truck-stopped/

Also I heard a BOOEY BOMB listening to live coverage of this low speed chase!! A local radio station was providing coverage.. The caller allegedly on one of the Grimsby overpasses, said "I can see the driver and he looks scared!!!" "Here he comes he is getting close"!! "Oh my God the Driver Is BABA BOOEY!!!". "I recognize those teeth anywhere"!!..

The radio host, to his credit said "Sorry but it's not him, the wrap up show finished about an hour ago. When the chase started Howard was still on the air. "....