[50MileSmile]

Why blur? Because the world is full of lunatics who are very clever at getting information surreptitiously. I know someone who received a death threat from a person in another state who didn’t like a humorous letter published in a national magazine.

I’ve also been contacted by someone who found me through my license plate, because a helpful county worker gave him my address. Legal or not, some people who are charged with protecting your information give it away just to be “helpful.”

[lawguy85]

Originally Posted by 50MileSmile

I’ve also been contacted by someone who found me through my license plate, because a helpful county worker gave him my address. Legal or not, some people who are charged with protecting your information give it away just to be “helpful.”

Not calling you a liar, it's certainly possible this tale happened, but highly unlikely. But systems like that are audited and have triggers, and the penalty for improper access is termination at best, jail time more likely. You've gotta be a uber dick online for someone to risk freedom and livelihood simply to "contact" you.

Originally Posted by Bad Anvil Garage

Because fear + ignorance = blurred plates.

/endthread. I don't bother blurring my plates, obscuring my decals, hiding my face etc. when posting online because I don't type things I wouldn't say IRL. Novel, ain't it? Nor am I afraid of anyone finding me. Mostly because of how next to impossible it would be, but also because that would be a bad day for them, not me.

[RobC2]

What about VIN numbers? I was looking at a Corvette once and was pretty serious. After asking all my questions and looking at the pictures, I was reasonably satisfied and wanted to see the car in person. Before I did though, I wanted to run a Carfax since it was a bit of a drive. The guy was adamant that he would not give out the VIN under any circumstances and even got pretty mad at the suggestion. I told him that he is driving the car around and parking it and anyone walking by can see the VIN through the windshield. Needless to say, I didn't make the trip.

[50MileSmile]

Originally Posted by lawguy85

Not calling you a liar, it's certainly possible this tale happened, but highly unlikely. But systems like that are audited and have triggers, and the penalty for improper access is termination at best, jail time more likely. You've gotta be a uber dick online for someone to risk freedom and livelihood simply to "contact" you.

Good thing you didn’t call me a liar, because both things are absolutely true. You’re never as secure as you think you are, and it’s getting worse every day.

[Nsxmatt]

Originally Posted by Bad Anvil Garage

Because fear + ignorance = blurred plates.

This.

Anyone can find anyones home in a matter of minutes without a plate.

[Silverwing]

Originally Posted by Nsxmatt

This.

Anyone can find anyones home in a matter of minutes without a plate.

QTF.

If someone wants to find you, they will find you. You don't need a plate number to do that.

[Camaro_Corvette]

It always boggles my mind when people do this.

That fact of the matter is this.

If you post a picture of your car online(or anything for that matter online), in a half an hour, (if i had an interest in doing so, which i do not.) I would be able to find out where you live, what your wifes name is, and what you ate yesterday.

In half that time a 15 year old junior hacker will be able to tell you where you live, your kids names, your mistresses name, when you sleep at night, and what you're going to eat tomorrow... License plate isn't even needed.

Originally Posted by 50MileSmile

Attachment 961275

I’ve also been contacted by someone who found me through my license plate, because a helpful county worker gave him my address. Legal or not, some people who are charged with protecting your information give it away just to be “helpful.”

Was this 30 years ago? Or recently?

[soloknight6]

I don't hide my plate because I know privacy does not exist in this day and age.

If you post a picture online that was taken with a smartphone or digital camera, blurred plate or no, I can get your latitude/longitude using a third party data extraction software in minutes lol. Plug the coordinates into google, and i can get a street view of your house.

If you are paranoid or have something to hide, don't post online.

[Camaro_Corvette]

Originally Posted by soloknight6

I don't hide my plate because I know privacy does not exist in this day and age.

If you post a picture online that was taken with a smartphone or digital camera, blurred plate or no, I can get your latitude/longitude using a third party data extraction software in minutes lol. Plug the coordinates into google, and i can get a street view of your house.

If you are paranoid or have something to hide, don't post online.

This

[torqueaddict]

Originally Posted by soloknight6

I don't hide my plate because I know privacy does not exist in this day and age.

If you post a picture online that was taken with a smartphone or digital camera, blurred plate or no, I can get your latitude/longitude using a third party data extraction software in minutes lol. Plug the coordinates into google, and i can get a street view of your house.

If you are paranoid or have something to hide, don't post online.

Even without geo location data attached to the pic? Turning off location tagging does not write any of this data to the pic as far I know. And digital editing software like Photoshop lets the user remove this data.

If you can still do this without that info, I'll post a pic for you to test. I'm not calling you a liar, just don't believe it's possible without the location data included.

[Cmax]

I think in all things, if you try to think it through, you can find answers.
While I do believe that a “helpful government worker” traced a plate to find someone, I am laughing because I think it is illegal for one, and how often do you find a helpful government employee.
I speculate that people started seeing blurred plates in pics and then the habit spread because people think bad things will happen. I think specific things or people that are made public, require permission from the person, and/or the owner of the thing. I suppose the privacy rights don’t include real estate, or google street view would blur your home?....
My guess is that google blurs plates so that you can’t prove that is your wife’s car at your best friends house....

[torqueaddict]

Originally Posted by soloknight6

I don't hide my plate because I know privacy does not exist in this day and age.

If you post a picture online that was taken with a smartphone or digital camera, blurred plate or no, I can get your latitude/longitude using a third party data extraction software in minutes lol. Plug the coordinates into google, and i can get a street view of your house.

If you are paranoid or have something to hide, don't post online.

I think a bold statement like that calls for a demonstration. Don't you think?

Tell me the location of this pic. Anybody. Taken with a Samsung phone. I deliberately left some exif data in there:

[ChickenPoop]

Not a clue, looks like damn good fishing water to me.

[Amiaji]

Originally Posted by Cmax

My guess is that google blurs plates so that you can’t prove that is your wife’s car at your best friends house....

I think there is a whole of truth in that statement right there. Oh at the trouble they could cause.

I had an Apple Maps van ride by the house yesterday. I was standing right next to the road when it came by. I guess I may be internet famous one day soon.