Why obscure your license plate in photos here?

[fossil]

at the end of the day it's a personal choice. once you post a photo here it's out of your control and anyone can copy it and use it in any number of ways. your lack of imagination of those ways speaks more to you and less to the possibility.
I post photos here to share with MTC members but on a few times they've shown up on google searches. no harm, no foul but I don't care to see any of my personal info included in those reposts.
I will continue to blur.

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[KlingonWarrior]

I like to see what states the Mavericks are from. But I can understand many of the responses. As far as fear of someone coming to my house to do something, well i have some very good cameras and a variety of 9mms that say you can't have what's mine. i like all the different mods done to this awesome little truck. To the point where i convinced my son to buy one and I upgraded from an XLT to a Lariat, which I love.

 

[Big C]

You'll get an address, and that can lead to all kinds if trouble if your targeted by someone, like roadrage, thiefs that want your truck, burglar etc.
Posting ANY personal related information online is always a risk that you have to judge by what you are willing to risk. It's really easy to cover your plate and have zero drawbacks.

In Florida only law enforcement can get information on the owner from a license plate number

 

[PapaRico]

Not an issue for me.

Only if those birds are out of season..just saying

 

[CanadaGuy]

Social media is an unregulated cesspool of scammers seeking every bit of data on you possible. I can’t think of anything specific that they can do with this info alone but if there is one the scammers will figure it out first, that’s their job. The more data they can compile on you, the more comprehensive scam they can concoct.
Unless you are selling a product there is zero reason to put any personal information on any social media outside of your immediate friends groups. Otherwise remain anonymous to strangers online.

 

[HughdMan]

I‘ve noticed that some here make sure to obscure their license plate when posting photos of their truck, and I was wondering: why? After all, anyone on the street can see and read the license plate. So it’s no secret. And if there was some risk to having someone read your license plate, wouldn’t someone nearby represent a greater threat to you than someone on the Internet, who is likely to be hundreds or even thousands of miles away? No one (other than a cop) can read your license plate and get any personal information about you from your state’s DMV. So I guess I don’t understand how there is any risk to having my license plate visible in a photo here. Can anyone clue me in about the risk?

I know, it seems overly cautious and indicates a possible level of distrust maybe. The thing is- who knows? I teach Security Awareness. There is really no limit to what "bad actors" can use to steal from you. It's even worse now that they are using AI to scan photos. It's one reason the Social Security Administration now recommends that people do NOT carry their SS cards on their person. I don't answer my cellphone from numbers not in my contact list. That bothered my nephew until I told him why.

It's just the world we live in now. No offense meant.

 

[Kritas]

I've gotten so paranoid that I'm now keeping all of my information very close. I don't trust the hybrid owners.

 

[Swede.]

I don't trust the hybrid owners.

That's wise words! Them gas savers are definitely suspicious and untrustworthy!

 

[Tim d]

I‘ve noticed that some here make sure to obscure their license plate when posting photos of their truck, and I was wondering: why? After all, anyone on the street can see and read the license plate. So it’s no secret. And if there was some risk to having someone read your license plate, wouldn’t someone nearby represent a greater threat to you than someone on the Internet, who is likely to be hundreds or even thousands of miles away? No one (other than a cop) can read your license plate and get any personal information about you from your state’s DMV. So I guess I don’t understand how there is any risk to having my license plate visible in a photo here. Can anyone clue me in about the risk?

Been a pet peeve of mine also.see this when people sell cars on marketplace to.Do they drive around with a picture of a hand covering their plate?

 

[Decayed]

It's so ridiculously easy to track someone down it's not even funny. Trusting people can't wrap their minds around the fact that criminals can and will exploit their trust. Best not to give the criminals any help.

 

[Bert Rooster]

Here's a little different take on the subject. I ran across this on a Jeep forum, the discussion was concerning finding the owner of a vehicle in photo.

"I had a kid show up at my door at 2am once. He paid a fee to an online database to get my address from a pic I posted to an urbex forum that included my vehicle/plates. He was an urbex forum member that I was friendly with online, and due to autism he thought we were best friends. He got in a fight with his mother and drove hundreds of miles to my home thinking I could somehow help. He was harmless, and we get together on occasion still, but none the less I now always censor my plates in online pics. While I have no control over what others do, I personally would not be happy if someone put any information online that could be traced to my home."

 

[PNWMaverick]

What seems to be a major point of confusion on the, "What information can I get with a plate?", question is the source of that information. People are arguing that you can't get any information from a state department for motor vehicles, when the actual discussion is what information you can obtain from public records and private data brokers.

I do not need, or exclusively need, a government source to track you down and steal your identity if I am using plate information. The information available via public record and private data brokers is more than enough. The reason you don't see fraud via this mechanism is the complexity and cost to do it compared to just stealing your mail. However, that doesn't change the fact it is still an option.

Anyone who has worked in finance, security or similar fields will have experience with working on credit/personal profiles. What sort of information you can obtain with just a few dollars and a little bit of information.

So why not post it when people in your local area can see it? Exposure. While driving around you are just another plate on the road that no one is having any direct interaction with. Online you are (very likely) having interactions with people. You very easily could say something to someone that makes you a specific target because they didn't like what you said.

In the simplest terms. You are minimizing your risks and avoiding being targeted.

 

[Decayed]

What seems to be a major point of confusion on the, "What information can I get with a plate?", question is the source of that information. People are arguing that you can't get any information from a state department for motor vehicles, when the actual discussion is what information you can obtain from public records and private data brokers.

I do not need, or exclusively need, a government source to track you down and steal your identity if I am using plate information. The information available via public record and private data brokers is more than enough. The reason you don't see fraud via this mechanism is the complexity and cost to do it compared to just stealing your mail. However, that doesn't change the fact it is still an option.

Anyone who has worked in finance, security or similar fields will have experience with working on credit/personal profiles. What sort of information you can obtain with just a few dollars and a little bit of information.

So why not post it when people in your local area can see it? Exposure. While driving around you are just another plate on the road that no one is having any direct interaction with. Online you are (very likely) having interactions with people. You very easily could say something to someone that makes you a specific target because they didn't like what you said.

In the simplest terms. You are minimizing your risks and avoiding being targeted.

A lot of people don't even know to strip location data from their images before uploading them. If a criminal finds that, they can look for the vehicle at that location and verify it's the same one using the plate number.

Honest people don't realize criminals think like predators rather than like decent people.

 

[Bwicka]

The op is right , no difference than me walking down the road seeing a nice truck and wanting to spend my time and money to get the address of that fancy vehicle owner so I can drive to their house and try steal some ?
Factory stereo ?
I think it’s a personal choice but hey , we all bought into technology !
How else can we be keyboard warriors!
Ain’t technology grand .
Burnt through lunchtime , back to work!

 

[dalola]

It's just a numbers game. Exposure while driving, multiplied by x (some number?) from a pic on the web.

Maybe I'm naive, but I'm not worried about it.

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