RbrtAWhyt
Well-known member
As well it should be...
Blocking out license plates???
- Thread starter akdiesel
- Start date
As well it should be...
gatewaysysop
Well-known member
I never said I was afraid someone would steal my car because of a picture.. Care to show me where I said that, since you've read the thread completely?
The point was that if you're posting pictures of your house, garage, cars, toolboxes and tools therein, you might want to be careful about how much personal information you have out in the public domain. Obscuring your license plate is a simple, easy thing if you're going to show off all the goodies in your detached garage/house/shed/whatever, not just your car.
You're taking this out of context and focusing on just the "someone seeing your car and wanting to steal it" bit, which I never even said in the first place and that's missing the entire point. Don't know if that's deliberate or not, but again, it misses the point nonetheless.
As I said before, in the part you didn't quote (one can only wonder why), we're squabbling over differences of opinion here. Can we please just agree to disagree and let it go? You feel safe with a gun in your house, I feel safe not having people who see all my stuff potentially knowing where I keep it and when I'm there. To each his own, right? No need to disrespect by calling people paranoid because they choose to protect themselves by a different means.
Cheers!
Jaguar Fan
Well-known member
Your name is Philip and your car is registered in California with an 08 revalidation decal...
Judging strictly from your avatar...
Touché. You're right. I bow down to your internet skills.
babzog
Well-known member
On the road, noone knows who you are - labourer, doctor, welder, programmer, millionaire, etc. On sites such as this, we are talking and posting pics about tools, toys, etc which are worth, in many cases, tens or more of thousands of dollars. It doesn't a crook much effort to track a few sites, see who's got what, get a plate posted by a careless user, track it down (if you think your plate can't be looked up by criminals, do you also think that personal information (bills, old licences, etc) should simply be tossed in the trash) to an address and go on a raid. By limiting the amount of personal info you provide, you make it that much harder (not saying it's impossible, just harder) to put the puzzle pieces together. If you have to make "them" work for it, your profile is less likely to be worth the effort of putting it together when there are easier targets.
nissan_crawler
Well-known member
I don't block mine, but I do understand the reasoning.
For those that ask "what can that information give you?", do me a favor and head over to pirate4x4. Ever hear of CHarlie Wenzel? There have been quite a few people over there that have had their entire lives put on the internet within a day, after they said to go ahead because people couldn't find anything.
I paid for a t-case and had a guy stiff me on it. Via a picture he posted with plate info, I got his full real name. With that, I tracked down where his parents lived. From that info, I found out his sister's name. Researching her name, I found an online christmas letter that mentioned where he went to college. With that, I tracked him down and found his dorm. I knew somebody that went there, and they put a note on his door informing him it would be wise to refund money or show up with the t-case, and if not, letters would be sent to his parents, and the dean of the college, and then he would get a visit. I had my money the next day.
I also told him I enjoyed the pictures of the new pool they were building, but they should get rid of the crappy shed, and by the way their dog was jumping against the fence on googlemaps, they should put a taller fence in.
Get my point?
For those that ask "what can that information give you?", do me a favor and head over to pirate4x4. Ever hear of CHarlie Wenzel? There have been quite a few people over there that have had their entire lives put on the internet within a day, after they said to go ahead because people couldn't find anything.
I paid for a t-case and had a guy stiff me on it. Via a picture he posted with plate info, I got his full real name. With that, I tracked down where his parents lived. From that info, I found out his sister's name. Researching her name, I found an online christmas letter that mentioned where he went to college. With that, I tracked him down and found his dorm. I knew somebody that went there, and they put a note on his door informing him it would be wise to refund money or show up with the t-case, and if not, letters would be sent to his parents, and the dean of the college, and then he would get a visit. I had my money the next day.
I also told him I enjoyed the pictures of the new pool they were building, but they should get rid of the crappy shed, and by the way their dog was jumping against the fence on googlemaps, they should put a taller fence in.
Get my point?
Just like there are creepos that drive 500-1000 miles to have *** with a 15 yo girl. I saw that **** on to catch a ********* or whatever on NBC. People are nuts!
Ha ha, that is freaking awesome!
gatewaysysop
Well-known member
Saw the same thing happen with a loser over on FSB. Stiffed a guy on a pair of sunglasses or some such thing, they ended up writing and call his mother. I think it turned out he was some loser barely old enough to drive. Funny thing is he was talking all kinds of ****, saying he'd fight the guy and kick his *** if he showed up. It was pretty hilarious to find out it was some douche living at home with his mom.
RbrtAWhyt
Well-known member
Lookin4'67Galaxieconv
Well-known member
That's great!
This topic of blocking out or not blocking out the plate has been brought up in several threads. My thinking is, it's so easy to so why not? Odds are if you do show your plate, nothing would ever happen, but why take the chance?
PassnThru
Well-known member
Bingo. How many people here arguing against this have their personal info posted on their User CP?
I used to be a member of another forum where a certain group of friends made it their hobby to screw with people using the forum over any stupid reason (disagreements, arguing etc) that came along. The moderators even gave them their own ongoing thread to do this. One of the group of friends was a cop. If he had personal information about you such as name, license number, address and so on the harassment could extend into a forum members personal live.
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Lookin4'67Galaxieconv
Well-known member
Yep, why give anyone license to f/k with you like that?
Ever see the movie Unlawful Entry w/Ray Liotta and Kurt Russell? You never know....
ddawg16
Well-known member
Damn it ddawg you said you stopped that ****!
Nervous yet? HeHeHeHeHe......
Yep, why give anyone license to f/k with you like that?
Ever see the movie Unlawful Entry w/Ray Liotta and Kurt Russell? You never know....
Never saw the movie...and don't want too....not that it has never happened..
...but Holywood has a way of 'exagerating' reality....proof in point....Roger Rabbit is not a real rabbit....
Actually....that is the fastest way to loose a job....I know a couple of guys that are stocking shelves....they had friends that were atorneys....would do 'research' for them....
My dept audits all DMV requests on a regular basis.....if they see you running plates that don't quite fit the normal pattern...(say, your x-girlfriend)....you are going to have some serious problems......they take that stuff pretty serious....
nate379
Banned
I don't bother. If someone wants to waste their time to come steal my beaters.. whatever.
I have 6 vehicles right now and all together don't think they equal 50k
I have 6 vehicles right now and all together don't think they equal 50k
I guess its a nj thing but i have heard claims from our car club members that after pics of there cars were posted that people have said that such a car has scrapped my car and that they didnt stop, so insurance cos were called and the douch bags car was fixed on the clubs members insurance. why not take 2 secs and white out the plate? its cheap insurance that no wacko is going to mess with you. In any event it will save you the hundreds of dollars to hire that lawyer to defend you. I know what some might say well peeps can see it on the street while you drive the car... well the internet is full of lazy people its easy to make claims from the keyboard than in real life, just my 2 cents.
Identaltech
Well-known member
Roger rabbit is not real??
Lookin4'67Galaxieconv
Well-known member
I don't bother. If someone wants to waste their time to come steal my beaters.. whatever.
I have 6 vehicles right now and all together don't think they equal 50k
Those aren't beaters. If you really had six beaters, they wouldn't be worth more than 10K!
knucklebusted
Banned
Oh, they won't spend THEIR money, they will spend the money of the last guy they ripped off or other stolen credit cards.
My deal with not posting a plate is if my car is possibly doing something a bit questionable in a place that it might be frowned upon. Now, I don't do smoky burnouts at the drop of a hat but I like to air it out when I can. Plus, it takes like 5 seconds in any photo editing software.
Another forum I haunt has had members tracked down by tag number and their warranties voided because of modifications.
Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get me. Being paranoid is just a heightened state of awareness. Being prepared for the worst case scenario isn't paranoid, it is just being smart.
It never ceases to amaze me when people go out of their way to defend behavior that has been pointed out to be dangerous. If anybody really had access to this information, what kind of an idiot would out themselves posting to the forum? They'd get banned for throwing the guy's personal info out there, even if they were just a well intentioned member trying to make a point about how easy it was to obtain.
It isn't posted here and it's not going to be. Taking that as proof that it is unattainable is incredibly naive.
Bingo.
Amazing how folks can become so offended by such innocuous behavior.
And there you go.
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ddawg16
Well-known member
Jaguar Fan
Well-known member
Anonymity is the ultimate luxury. Oops, I guess my plate is out there.
07Forester
Well-known member
Being in the "photography" industry on the side as an automotive photographer I think I can chime in here on the whole plate blurring issue. First off I CAN say that i've had some cars stolen. I don't blame it on the countless pictures that were posted on certain websites however. I do blame it on the fact that people can FIND out where you live. Not to mention my stupidity of not doing certain things to prevent a thief from stealing the car.
Shooting some vehicles for some popular automotive magazines, a few of them, have some rules. Some magazines require that the plate be pp into the name of the magazine, or a paper plate is given to the owner of the car that has the name of the magazine on it. Some magazines don't require anything and it is up to the owner of the vehicle to decide whether or not to use his/her plates.
My own personal vehicles..I could care less. I intentionally make silly plates for my vehicles. Now, I DO make sure to well protect them. Alarm on the car, alarm in the house, car in the garage, my room above, with more then enough guns. That being said, I know more then enough people that have LITERALLY had their cars stolen in front of their house...in the middle of the day....on a FLAT bed. No, they were not repo'd either.
My Benz is: EVLBENZ
My Legacy is: SLOLEGY
My Forester is: EVOLOL
My civic track car is: CTCHME
Shooting some vehicles for some popular automotive magazines, a few of them, have some rules. Some magazines require that the plate be pp into the name of the magazine, or a paper plate is given to the owner of the car that has the name of the magazine on it. Some magazines don't require anything and it is up to the owner of the vehicle to decide whether or not to use his/her plates.
My own personal vehicles..I could care less. I intentionally make silly plates for my vehicles. Now, I DO make sure to well protect them. Alarm on the car, alarm in the house, car in the garage, my room above, with more then enough guns. That being said, I know more then enough people that have LITERALLY had their cars stolen in front of their house...in the middle of the day....on a FLAT bed. No, they were not repo'd either.
My Benz is: EVLBENZ
My Legacy is: SLOLEGY
My Forester is: EVOLOL
My civic track car is: CTCHME
Shadowdog500
Well-known member
I think it is good to try to keep anonymity online.
I've seen a couple arguments on forums get heated to the point that threats were made. A few years ago one of my co workers actually had an online argument on a political forum escalate to the point that some waco send him death threats.
Just look online and you will find reports of several people being murdered or assaulted because of an online argument that got out of hand.
Another rising trend is social network robberies. People are stupid enough to tell everyone online that they are going to see Mickey Mouse for two weeks and are surprised when one of their online "friends" robs their house. One guy actually had security cameras in his house that captured good images of the thieves. When the cops caught the guys in the images one turned out to be an online "friend".
Chris
I've seen a couple arguments on forums get heated to the point that threats were made. A few years ago one of my co workers actually had an online argument on a political forum escalate to the point that some waco send him death threats.
Just look online and you will find reports of several people being murdered or assaulted because of an online argument that got out of hand.
Another rising trend is social network robberies. People are stupid enough to tell everyone online that they are going to see Mickey Mouse for two weeks and are surprised when one of their online "friends" robs their house. One guy actually had security cameras in his house that captured good images of the thieves. When the cops caught the guys in the images one turned out to be an online "friend".
Chris
That's funny. That site knows where I lived about 10-11 years ago, doesn't know my age, and has my Zodiac sign wrong. Oh yea, and apparenely I own a home and have kids (both are news to me). Using my wife's name it's slightly more accurate, it at least has her at our last address, but otherwise is wrong as well.
My extra strong tin foil must be working.
gatewaysysop
Well-known member
Hmm. Apparently no matches on that site for myself or the wife. How odd. 
Nice site though, found several coworkers in there and I can vouch for the fact that the information was fairly recent and accurate (well, in all but 1 case, they had his old address).
I try to to avoid the social networking sites and so forth. Never seemed that secure to me and, as others have pointed out, there are more than a few horror stories out there. There are enough whack jobs out there that might break in after they drive by and case your joint, no need to up your odds by having posted about vacations, showing off your goodies and sharing license plates. My $.02 anyway.
Nice site though, found several coworkers in there and I can vouch for the fact that the information was fairly recent and accurate (well, in all but 1 case, they had his old address).
I try to to avoid the social networking sites and so forth. Never seemed that secure to me and, as others have pointed out, there are more than a few horror stories out there. There are enough whack jobs out there that might break in after they drive by and case your joint, no need to up your odds by having posted about vacations, showing off your goodies and sharing license plates. My $.02 anyway.
knucklebusted
Banned
They have the correct telephone book info for me but they got everything else wrong. It says my neighborhood is below average and my home is worth more than $1,000,000. I wish! My zodiac sign is wrong and my house's build year is way off. I'm guessing since I refinanced a year ago they think I've only lived here a year.
They obviously have some sort of assumption engine making guesses based on public info but it is not very sophisticated.
nate379
Banned
Dunno where that info is pulled, but it's 99% incorrect.
[UOTE=ddawg16;838374]Type your name into this site and see just how 'much' the internet knows about you...
Spokeo
If they found you....install more tin foil and go down to the lower right of the screen and click on the privacy to have your name removed.[/QUOTE]
[UOTE=ddawg16;838374]Type your name into this site and see just how 'much' the internet knows about you...
Spokeo
If they found you....install more tin foil and go down to the lower right of the screen and click on the privacy to have your name removed.[/QUOTE]
PassnThru
Well-known member
Yeah - my house build date is off about 17 years - apparently I don't have central heat and air. Which is surprising for a house that is supposedly worth 1 million plus. Oh - and I love to read and I'm not interested in politics. Not very accurate at all.
I see that you aren't interested in politics either - and tell me about that RV you own that I have never seen
Jaguar Fan
Well-known member
spokeo found nothing on me.
I entered an old work email & it said the email appeared valid. Odd; that email has been inactive for years.
So I tried an experiment. I made up a fake email using common profanity such as the "f" word, etc, with a domain of a fortune 500 company.
Spokeo reports it valid.
Here -- try this -- use Spokeo to check out the bio of someone who has the following obviously fake email address.
Since I'm working on taxes right now, I used the following:
"*******@irs.gov"
spokeo gives lots of info on this guy.
I entered an old work email & it said the email appeared valid. Odd; that email has been inactive for years.
So I tried an experiment. I made up a fake email using common profanity such as the "f" word, etc, with a domain of a fortune 500 company.
Spokeo reports it valid.
Here -- try this -- use Spokeo to check out the bio of someone who has the following obviously fake email address.
Since I'm working on taxes right now, I used the following:
"*******@irs.gov"
spokeo gives lots of info on this guy.
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mikeyr
Well-known member
Not directly on this forum BUT in my bio is a link to another forum on another website, search that website and you will find my name, address, e-mail address, phone number and even cell phone number very prominently display (hint: look under officers of the club).
When I have displayed pictures of my Dino here or anywhere else I have not hidden the license plate, you want to steal my Dino ? blocking out the license plate on a forum picture wont stop you, you will see me driving it and figure out where I live without ever going on the web.
Luckily my neighbors are elderly and nosy, especially when my 3 dogs go crazy.
jeepnut24
Well-known member
I can safely say from experience, it isn't paranoia. A group of us 4wheelers got called by the police department because a homeowner found our plates on the internet. We weren't the cause of the issue, it was a group of snowmobilers causing issues, but he found our plates and we got the bad rap because of it. I will never post my plates again, because we were legally on the road and still got blamed based on pictures posted on the internet. I also don't have any shame it asking someone to pull pictures of my rig with the plates showing.
m289271
Well-known member
Kinda scary. It was right on the money with the exception of "house value $1mil +".