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THIS DISCUSSION / SOURCE-DERIVED OVERVIEW
Discussion summary
YOUR RESEARCHCovering license plates...WHY
Reported or suspected cause
dealer's picture
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0
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Reported cause
Also, no I did not black out my plate in picture of my car it was the dealer's picture
Leading evidence: 'dealer's picture' (1 discussions report identifying this cause; no attributable repair resolution). Across 1 matching discussions, the most frequently mentioned possible cause is 'dealer's picture' (1 discussions; 1 report identifying it and 0 suggest it). The most frequently discussed action is 'Use free photo editing software' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed
I use free photo editing software to blur the plate instead.
Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
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Suspected cause
There are probably a thousand pictures on the internet of my car with the license plate clearly visible.
Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
Discussions that suspect a cause
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Suspected cause
Probably a waste of time but it makes me feel better.
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57 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.
Rennlist: 1 discussions
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Generation: 20261026T113718Z · outcome-qualification-6. Deterministic extraction; no AI model inference. How we use sources
So we can have some illusion of privacy on the Internet. I guess.
Or because we've seen it done so many times that we believe it is normal to blur them.
I've always asked this question. It's on the car. As I drive. Literally everyone sees it.
I do, however, strip location data off of photos when posting online.
I've never understood either. Only reason I can see is if you're taking a picture of the car while doing something illegal, or something that would void your warranty or insurance. There are probably a thousand pictures on the internet of my car with the license plate clearly visible. I don't care.
To be honest, when I see cars for sale with the plates covered and actually contact the owner the people are complete wacko's. They are afraid of their own shadow, will not give service records, want to meet at some dumb place to show the car...etc It is pretty much is a safe bet that they have some issues with paranoia.
The thought is to keep a potential thief from looking up your plate and coming to steal your car. If you notice, magazines remove plates as well except for vanity plates.
I think one thing I worry about is all of the Machine learning and AI stuff that is constantly scraping data. I try not to give my data away for free for advertisers....so I cover don't show license plate. Probably a waste of time but it makes me feel better.
I'm sure the magazines are taking them off to improve the looks of the cars. Same reason you don't see license plates in new car brochures or TV ads.
If somebody successfully plans a heist and steals my car based on an online photo, I'll tip my cap to them, collect the insurance money, and buy another one.
You do know that those little camera thingies at most every major intersection are really tag readers? They are not watching the traffic go by or red light runners. The cops can follow you around just by your tag....and then nail you by pinging your cell phone location. I wear a colander hat lined with foil when I drive my 996 and I leave my cell phone at home. Never ever open the sun roof...
I have a motion sensing security camera in the garage so I can watch it being stolen in real time. It even has a speaker and microphone so I can politely ask them to reconsider their poor life choices.
Awesome! Thanks, dak911! Now I'm just going to print up a reproduction of your plate, put it on my dark colored 99' 996, and blast down the toll roads without paying at about 150mph. You'll get a chuckle out of me in my Nixon mask as I fly by the cameras. The citations will be in your mailbox in about two weeks.
Because I post in the 996 forum to be modest. If you reverse-look me up and realize how hard I really ball the illusion will be broken and y'all will be asking me for money nonstop.
I remember reading an article explaining why you should block the plates and it made sense when I read it. Being and old geezer, I can't remember what it said or where I read it. So I have that going for me.
It's a e28 M5. It broke 300,000 miles on the way to Monterey car week a few years ago and is still going strong
. Here are a few pics and the "88 M5" in my sig is a clickable link that has a nice shot of the front.
This was taken at the Legends of the Autobahn show, Monterey 2011
S38 straight six
This was taken on the paddock of the Porsche/BMW corral at Laguna Seca in 2013.
As a LONG time member of BMWCCA (12660) I can tell you that those were FANTASTIC cars in the day, and it's nice to see that you have kept yours in that condition....(last of the really great BIMMERS)
Daniel
posting your license plate is the same as posting your name and address. I notice you don�t provide that in your profile. Maybe for the same reason. This is rocket science.
NO, not exactly, I don't think that anyone who is not a LEO can just come up with your name and address from a license plate..
But posting your name and address is right there..............
DMV records should only be visible to LEO and DMV people, but that is a large enough group for me to make me nervous. Also, if the vehicle has ever been cited a ticket, then the plate and driver information is searchable. Since this thread started, I have noticed that TV shows also blur out plates as well. So there must be a reason why they do it.
Is there a large threat? No. But why take a chance on something worth thousands of dollars.
It always drives me nuts in sale posts, either take the plate off or just don't take a pic of the back of the car. My favorite is when I see people block the plate of their **** box car that they are asking $2000 for.
People blur their license plates because they recognize the truth: those who would do them harm are lacking only one vital yet otherwise unobtainable shred of personally-identifiable information. That Photoshopped smudge is Liam Neeson's only hope of not having to spend a perfectly good weekend rescuing your loved ones from an unspeakable life in an inexplicably-situated brothel-in-a-quarry. Show a little gratitude.
Their anonymity went out the window when the signed up for Facebook which is where I see 90% of this. What drives me nuts about it is the laziness, if you cannot be bothered to do it properly don't bother but nice try.
I don't blur mine out but I certainly don't have a problem with people that do. If you're so paranoid that you won't even list your city in your profile you might want to see someone about it though.
Wait a minute...I RESEMBLE that remark...You Young un's" grew up with the internet...I retired in 1989, (at 55, figure that out) so yeah, I need explanin"
Oops. Already kvetched in this thread.
Using my license plate as my username since 2012 has - curiously - not resulted in an endless string of robberies or stalkings.
This sucks - I was really hoping for a hot stalker.
I wonder if my stalkers and robbers are all going to Dr. Strangelove's place. If so...dude...why you no share?
Science!
So the only scam that used to happen a lot,, was folks would troll the net looking for plate numbers,
they would make a claim against the cars insurance with their POS already dented to crap Honda.
AND file a medical claim against the policy.. Usually through "their" company in Mexico.. Then you would
get dinged on your policy and spend a year arguing with them over the claim trying to get it off your record..
Up until just a few years back,, 25-100 bucks would buy you a CD copy of most state DMV data bases.
As a professional data scientist, I would say that in the present environment, covering your plate (and anything else you can do to obscure data points on yourself) is probably good practice.
While you may have little impact on what bad actors could attempt to accumulate about you as part of a given scheme, you can at least try not contribute to it.
it is entirely possible that the absence of one data point may prevent a successful attempt at triangulating enough items to fulfill the scheme. You may never know one way or another.
I don't disagree, however, the DMV is selling our identities regardless.
(In this case specifically; 5CHN3LL's identity.)
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/e...al-information
Yes they are. With a little info and some internet searching you can find a lot of info about a person. One of my neighbors posted on the neighborhood forum a picture of a car with license plate as well as the DMV records of the owners name and address saying "this car was speeding in the neighborhood."
Also, no I did not black out my plate in picture of my car it was the dealer's picture
