Why do people cover/blur their license plates when posting pictures online?

[ttnuagmada]

There are several paid sites that will provide you with the owners info from a plate. They'll just make you promise it's for legit reasons per the DPPA. People don't lie.

These don't work like you think they do.

Sponsored

 

[Old Hat]

Fun thread.

 

[roadPilot]

I think you're assuming you can pay for one of those personal-info sites and get the current owner of a vehicle with a license plate number. You'll be surprised to find out that it doesn't really work like that. At best you can find out a name for who originally purchased the vehicle.

Then there's also the part where it's 10000 times easier to just find some random person on the internet to harass than it is pay to look up a license plate for some random person on the internet to harass. Why would having a license plate number make you any more of a target than typing "John Smith" in google and harassing the first LinkedIn account that pops up? Makes absolutely 0 sense, on top of the fact that anyone who would want to harass you based on a license plate, are the people you encounter on the road, and when have you ever once heard of that happening?

Stop trying to inject common sense into this thread. It's not welcome here by some of these posters, as it doesn't fit their narrative.

 

[Nobuddy]

So let me get this straight: You think insurance companies employ people to peruse random internet discussion forums, run license plates (one of the 283,000,000 registered vehicles in the United States) from pictures posted online to see if, by chance, you are one of THEIR insured customers, and then subsequently find a reason, also posted by you online, to raise your annual premium for said vehicle?

Boy, I've heard a lot of chit in my lifetime, but this one takes the cake.

I cannot imagine that they would be employing people to do this manually. This isn't 1990, we have automation for simple tasks like reading license plates and collating data.

My comment was just to be careful of your identity if doing anything at all shady or just high risk. But you can believe anything you like.

 

[HammaMan]

Speaking of LPs, anyone else notice LPRs popping up EVERYWHERE? I'm not even in an urbanized area and I'm seeing them damn near everywhere. Middle of nowhere even. Little bastards have popped up out of nowhere for the most part.

https://www.flocksafety.com/devices/falcon-lr

https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-t...locks-mass-surveillance-license-plate-readers

Found a 'transparency' site that lists other agencies that have access (aka most). Search your county/town w/ ctrl F at this website https://transparency.flocksafety.com/temple-ga-pd. Downloaded the xls, it shows the ever-growing camera count and how wide a search went based "reason" (that little town has 4 cameras it seems). Interesting little insight. The DPRC seems to want to keep their data and searches a little more localized, here's a random CA PD's page https://transparency.flocksafety.com/san-leandro-pd-ca. Google "flock transparency portal" and a town/county/state to find a link from an agency's site.

 

[roadPilot]

I cannot imagine that they would be employing people to do this manually. This isn't 1990, we have automation for simple tasks like reading license plates and collating data.

My comment was just to be careful of your identity if doing anything at all shady or just high risk. But you can believe anything you like.

With all due respect, I'M not the one thinking unbelievable or improbable things. Why the world is so full of unfounded conspiracy theories these days is beyond me.

 

[roadPilot]

Cause they don't want "Illegal aliens" coming to their garage or property to steal their truck cause illegals like F150's - to use to transport drugs or child sex trafficking...!!! - ?

Or

They don't want copycats copying their special plates -

ROTF!

More believable than the insurance companies running plates posted online to raise premiums, that's for sure!

 

[roadPilot]

Definition of Paranoia:

“A heightened sense of awareness”

Paranoia

Thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality

 

[v8440]

Not addressing this debate directly, but as a general point, many things called conspiracy theories have turned out to be true. Many also have not, to be fair.

 

[FaaWrenchBndr]

Maybe there is a simple explanation that I cannot think of; but had a few extra minutes on the toilet to ponder the question.

It’s really even worse the time thinking about it?
I could care less

 

[JohnMcClane]

Can’t post my plate, bunch of pissed off Germans, whole thing, family is yuge apparently.

 

[Losungen]

And they can't if your stopped at a light?

Do you have conversations with psychopaths at stop lights?

 

[Spiffy]

Do you have conversations with psychopaths at stop lights?

Probably. I think everyone is a psychopath. They seem nice.

 

[ttnuagmada]

Not addressing this debate directly, but as a general point, many things called conspiracy theories have turned out to be true. Many also have not, to be fair.

"many" is doing a lot of work there.

 

[UNCGrad]

I don't hide my plate. Between having a vanity plate "DUK DOGS" and a 3 hole dog box in the bed, my truck is memorable especially since I don't live where a lot of people hunt.

Sponsored