Blacking out plates in pics

[KPao]

Is it really necessary? Can someone really do you harm by knowing your plates?

Kevin

[mit-gee-mui]

Is it really necessary?
It is done out of respect for peoples' privacy.


Can someone really do you harm by knowing your plates?
Yes. It may not happen to you and the majority of people out there, but it DOES occur.


Let me elaborate: You may not realize this, but a LOT of information can be obtained from peoples' license plates i.e. home address, birthday, etc. You run the risk of identity theft, someone breaking into your home because they figure you have stuff they want, etc. But like I said, it may not happen to you, but it DOES happen. And far WORSE things can happen.

Yes, you see plates on the road, but it's not visible for all to see on a webpage at your convenience. There IS a difference.

Let me find a link with people explaining this better, and I will update this post once I find it.

http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=7868&highlight=license+plate%2A
Post 18 in particular is basically what I said.

I am only going to speak for myself (emphasis on myself) when I say this since there are differing opinions across the board, but if ANY of you choose to take pictures of other peoples' cars and keep your plates visible, that is your choice, but out of respect, please remove everyone else's (or ALL of mine at the very least).

[Noisy Crow]

If your car is modified your insurance company may have issue with it....

[07Speedfreak]

You can just blur it.

[KPao]

What program and function do you use to blur it?

[07Speedfreak]

Corel Paint shop, Adobe Photoshop, etc.

[Ghost]

What program and function do you use to blur it?

Photoshop, an image viewer/editor like ACDSee or XNView... I know some image hosting websites like Photobucket let you do it right on the site, and if you've linked your imaged into a thread, the linked image is auto-updated as the uploaded image is modified.

[KPao]

cool thanks

[3GFX]

Privacy sake. I don't need someone identifying myself or my ride. I also don't need anyone "looking" for it either.

Plus its been official that police are patrolling forums and no one needs to have their plate written down as a "look out for". Some people may stereotype your car and you as a driver, which is very unfortunate but true.

[Fuman]

if your car is modified
1) you don't want insurance knowing (if by fluke they check this site)
2) you don't want Mazda Canada to know

3) as ppl said, you can get the car's owner information

[Unoriginalusername]

I found it easier to just permanetly blur my plate with some clear coat spray paint rather then having to worry about others pictures being edited properly, works like a charm

heres an unedited pic of the end result
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v252/cndxrs/DSC_01293_1_2_tonemapped.jpg

[tweak_s]

Wait waht do you mean UOU? I'm a bit confused :p.

You actually spray painted your plates in real life? SO.. cameras see it as blurred but the human eye doesn't?

[mit-gee-mui]

http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=7996&highlight=plate%2A+spray%2A

??

[Makeit]

I think you should blur it out of respect of the other person, especially if you are posting pictures without their knowing or permission... and as it was said you can find a lot of info from the plate...
And I know from first hand that Head office does track these web sites, not sure if Mazda does, but when I was with Subaru, they did it all the time...
Just food for thought...

[Xerox]

How about vanity plates?

[SonicBoy]

How about vanity plates?

Even more reason to do so.

[cwp_sedan]

Old pic of my car but this makes it cleaner without blurring/blacking out. Takes a little longer to do though.

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb106/cwp_sedan/front_ang.jpg

[Skarbro]

If your car is modified your insurance company may have issue with it....


if your car is modified
1) you don't want insurance knowing (if by fluke they check this site)
2) you don't want Mazda Canada to know

3) as ppl said, you can get the car's owner information
Insurance companies do NOT know what your license plate number is unless they have a copy of your plates registration, which they do not typically. They know your car by the VIN.

[Mafty]

i dont see the point in doing it. everyone can see my license plate in my dirveway all night, and can see it in a parking lot all day. i dont think some mazda enthesuiats are going to do me any harm.

[Cardinal Fang]

We have people other than Mazda enthusiasts that view the board. Bottom line is that we're on the internet and as such people should be aware of the information they present.

[Videcak]

I personally don't bother blurring out my own, people see my plates all the time on the road and can do the same, along with people following me home (which happens from time to time, just circle a block a couple times, they will get the point). I typically blur out other people's plates unless they don't mind like me.

[Fuman]

Insurance companies do NOT know what your license plate number is unless they have a copy of your plates registration, which they do not typically. They know your car by the VIN.
my insurance company knows mine =(

[Videcak]

my insurance company knows mine =(

Shitty...

as a note: I wouldn't suggest people call their insurance company to find out :gone

"Hello, do you know my plate number..."
"Nope"
"Good" ...click...

lol

[Xerox]

I blur out plates out of respect to the owners of the cars. I think that's how it should be no matter your preference when it comes to your own car. At times I'll remove the plate completely (I've done it on Victorious52's ride a couple of times). The only time I've kept the plate in tact is for vanity plates but I may start blurring that out too.

Edit: typo

[Unoriginalusername]

Wait waht do you mean UOU? I'm a bit confused :p.

You actually spray painted your plates in real life? SO.. cameras see it as blurred but the human eye doesn't?

it was a joke lol :chuckle

[garboui]

Insurance companies do NOT know what your license plate number is unless they have a copy of your plates registration, which they do not typically. They know your car by the VIN.

if you've ever had a reported accident that you have claimed for or a ticket which the enforcement made privy to the ins company then they would then def have your plate number.

[KPao]

Shitty...

as a note: I wouldn't suggest people call their insurance company to find out :gone

"Hello, do you know my plate number..."
"Nope"
"Good" ...click...

lol

That reminds me of a funny joke:

A student is writing a test, and at the end of the allowed time limit the prof yells out "Ok everyone pencils down". As all the other students stop writing and begin to hand in their papers, this particular student continues to write frantically trying to finish. A minute later he finishes and walks down the isle to hand in his paper. He is about to put his paper in the stack in front of him when the prof says, "I'm not letting you hand in your paper because I saw you, you didn't stop writting when I told you to. You had an extra minute that the other students didn't and this isn't fair." Outraged the student says, "Do you know who I am?!" The prof says, "No", so the student says "Good!" and shoves his paper in middle of the pile. :chuckle

[x_o_k_x]

That reminds me of a funny joke:

A student is writing a test, and at the end of the allowed time limit the prof yells out "Ok everyone pencils down". As all the other students stop writing and begin to hand in their papers, this particular student continues to write frantically trying to finish. A minute later he finishes and walks down the isle to hand in his paper. He is about to put his paper in the stack in front of him when the prof says, "I'm not letting you hand in your paper because I saw you, you didn't stop writting when I told you to. You had an extra minute that the other students didn't and this isn't fair." Outraged the student says, "Do you know who I am?!" The prof says, "No", so the student says "Good!" and shoves his paper in middle of the pile. :chuckle

hahaha i remember seeing that one

as for plates blacking them out i think is important, any extra information about you is really unnecessary. There really alot of creeps and stalkers online...

[kaval]

Can never be too safe these days.

[mit-gee-mui]

Adding more thoughts and/or rewording:

Preventative measures - small hassle now to avoid BIG hassle later.

Believe me, (not to say that it will) but IF anything were to happen to you or anyone's plate that you didn't cover up, you'll wish that you took the time to do it.



BAD (really bad) analogy:
You put your seatbelt on before you drive, right? In the same way, cover up your plates before you post them online. Yes, some people battle the odds and don't wear their seatbelts and get to their destination unscathed, but others aren't so lucky.


Maybe I'm just overly paranoid and taking this too far. Maybe not. It's good to see that some of you agree with me though.:)

[Mafty]

i realize everyone is trying to be safe.........but woh here can actually find something out with someones plates? no one here has access to the database that holds that info.

[Cardinal Fang]

No one here may, but you can't discount people here that have friends that do have access to those types of databases. We have members here that hold jobs with access to all types of information. I doubt anyone would advertise what they have access to if they could.

In the end it's up to YOU and how comfortable YOU feel. But never discount it.

[Broli]

i think it is not a bad thing to do.

but i dont see myself ever doing it

[x_o_k_x]

i realize everyone is trying to be safe.........but woh here can actually find something out with someones plates? no one here has access to the database that holds that info.

no one here, but im sure someone on internet does. Just like chatrooms you dont wanna give out personal info. Hackers can find anything using plates and still your identity.

[whiteomega]

i realize everyone is trying to be safe.........but woh here can actually find something out with someones plates? no one here has access to the database that holds that info.

you can go to the MTO booth and get registration info on most plates for twenty bucks. once you've got that info, go home and google the person's name. you might be surprised what you come up with, particularly if the name is relatively unique.

my opinion is that you should always assume the owner does not want their plates shown, and black them out. a bit of careful photo editing can make it look pretty good without taking too much time. yes, someone always sees your plates when you're driving, but they don't always remember them. what if someone sees a really nicely pimped out 3, and the sticker on the side that says "Toronto Mazda3.ca"? They could come on here and find out the plate number of that 3 without too much effort, unless the photographer edits it out.

if someone doesn't care about having their plate shown, that's fine with me, but the assumption should never be that someone is okay with it.

[Mafty]

you can go to the MTO booth and get registration info on most plates for twenty bucks. once you've got that info, go home and google the person's name. you might be surprised what you come up with, particularly if the name is relatively unique.

my opinion is that you should always assume the owner does not want their plates shown, and black them out. a bit of careful photo editing can make it look pretty good without taking too much time. yes, someone always sees your plates when you're driving, but they don't always remember them. what if someone sees a really nicely pimped out 3, and the sticker on the side that says "Toronto Mazda3.ca"? They could come on here and find out the plate number of that 3 without too much effort, unless the photographer edits it out.

if someone doesn't care about having their plate shown, that's fine with me, but the assumption should never be that someone is okay with it.

most people have their names on this website. so why bother going to mto and spending 20 dollars lol. if all they get from mto is the persons name you can easily find that on this website and then google from there. so should people be more concerned about giving away there name?

[Cardinal Fang]

most people have their names on this website.

I beg to differ. It is a small minority of people that actually use their real names to identify themselves on this board.

[Mafty]

I beg to differ. It is a small minority of people that actually use their real names to identify themselves on this board.

eek im a minority then. even though i 411 my full name, location and everything on www.411.com and it found some people out in the muskoka, not me. so i cant even find myself on the internet. and strangely enough, when iwas signing up for my course at school, there was someone else with my first and last name in MY program. strange

[Wild Weasel]

Frankly, if anyone wanted to go to the effort to cause trouble using info gained from your plates, all they'd have to do is drop by a meet or something, right?

I used to care about this. I stopped caring years ago.

[whiteomega]

Frankly, if anyone wanted to go to the effort to cause trouble using info gained from your plates, all they'd have to do is drop by a meet or something, right?

I used to care about this. I stopped caring years ago.

an excellent point; however like many things it's personal preference. i prefer not to have my plate shown; and i would ask that anyone who takes a photo of my car please black it out. hell, i'll do it for you if you ask me (at least for my car - i won't turn myself into a photoshop service :) )