Why Blur License Plate Number?

[markboris]

I understand the whole privacy thing and that it's possible for someone to use your license plate for wrong doings but I guess until I actually have a real issue with it, I will continue to display my license plate.

I belong to F-150, Escape, Focus, Ranger, Explorer, Mach-E, GT500, Honda, Volvo, Toyota and Subaru forums. I have posted hundreds if not thousands of photos since around 2002 so about 20 years. Why don't I blur my license plates? Because I think it ruins the photo. My 2 cents. ?

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[DevSecOps]

My confusion has been that you’re out and about every day and people always see your license plate, so what’s the difference?

Because driving down the street people don't know any more about you than any other car. There's a lot of people who share more information here, like the what's in your garage posts. The chance of something happening is always slim.

Ultimately, I don't think it's much to worry about I was just answering the "why" along with the possibilities.

 

[RickMachE]

My take is that you want to minimize your known public presence because of privacy concerns. Some join forums with their real names. Some think that forum owners can't read DMs and send private information back and forth. Some use the same name on every forum they join. Pretty easy to connect the dots if one wanted to. I think a group of forum users (forums in general) are voyeurs at heart. They post every little thing they can think of (of course some are tied to things like YouTube to also generate revenue).

I would never post my license plate. I also have done in excess of 1,000 Craigslist sales, and maybe a dozen of them have been at my home due to the size of the item. The rest have no clue who I am as we meet in a safe public place. I also don't use my phone to communicate with them.

The other day a neighbor posted on our Association's FB page: "We're out of town, anyone have a plow company they recommend?" Now 100+ people know they're out of town.

 

[macchiaz-o]

Some think that forum owners can't read DMs and send private information back and forth.
...
I think a group of forum users (forums in general) are voyeurs at heart.

@admin, I'm so sorry for last weekend. She put her password in the Location field, making it easy to find. I couldn't help myself!

 

[Jonno21]

People were afraid to put their home address in their Navigation because a valet could figure out their address…….. except that your address is public record already. Anyone with google can find you. No need to check your NAV.

In the UK the police recommend that you don't put in your home address in the sat nav as anyone who steals your car knows your home address to come back later and steal anything else. Lie and put your home address a couple of streets away. You've got a nice car so what other nice things might you have in the house. Just to pre-empt any comments I'm talking about when your car is stolen away from your home. Obviously, when it's stolen from your drive they know your home address.

 

[RickMachE]

In the UK the police recommend that you don't put in your home address in the sat nav as anyone who steals your car knows your home address to come back later and steal anything else. Lie and put your home address a couple of streets away. You've got a nice car so what other nice things might you have in the house. Just to pre-empt any comments I'm talking about when your car is stolen away from your home. Obviously, when it's stolen from your drive they know your home address.

That's a universal recommendation. And keep your car registration on you, not in the glove box.

 

[Chuck]

In the UK the police recommend that you don't put in your home address in the sat nav as anyone who steals your car knows your home address to come back later and steal anything else. Lie and put your home address a couple of streets away. You've got a nice car so what other nice things might you have in the house. Just to pre-empt any comments I'm talking about when your car is stolen away from your home. Obviously, when it's stolen from your drive they know your home address.

My registration is in my glove box so anyone that steals my car will know where I live.

 

[Mach1E]

In the UK the police recommend that you don't put in your home address in the sat nav as anyone who steals your car knows your home address to come back later and steal anything else. Lie and put your home address a couple of streets away. You've got a nice car so what other nice things might you have in the house. Just to pre-empt any comments I'm talking about when your car is stolen away from your home. Obviously, when it's stolen from your drive they know your home address.

Yeah I’ve heard that before.

Here in the US, your address is public record. So them knowing where you live is super easy.

If they steal your car, sure technically they could have your garage door opener etc. But they’d have to act super fast because if your car is stolen, you would reprogram it right away. Kinda like changing credit cards if your wallet/purse is stolen.

Plus, coming to your house right after stealing your car would be…….. really stupid. They’d be meeting you and the police there since you just called the police because your car was stolen.

I dunno, it’s not that these scenarios are impossible, I just think it’s too unlikely to even bother protecting yourself against.

 

[ARK]

The obvious answer is:

Spoiler

Because everyone else does

Pretty much was my logic to this. Everything else people posted makes sense, but this was the true reason!

 

[agdad]

In GLOCK we trust !

 

[yngwenli]

My confusion has been that you’re out and about every day and people always see your license plate, so what’s the difference?

Difference is probably like someone else mentioned, you post something someone else doesn't agree with (say it's political point in a non-political forum) and vs. road rage, you are now a target for some hater.

I've posted stuff where someone went through and downvoted all my posts just because I disagreed with their opinion. It happens all the time. It happens here too. You mention 1 political thing and you can bet 50% will disagree with you.

There are plenty of crazies, sickos, violent folks in the world, why make it easy for them? It's like a nonlocked door on a house, locking your car in general. If someone wants to come it, make them work for it more than leaving it wide open.


Yes, 99% of the time, nothing will happen, but I suppose my thinking is why post it? I don't see a benefit sharing so it's better to be safer than not.

Generally, the least people who know about me online, the better. It's not a vanity plate (I sorta hate them personally) neither.

It's sorta like phone calls. I get so many crank calls I just don't pick up. You see enough scammers actually scam someone because they answered a random text/call. At my job, someone who was in "Security" actually got scammed from replying to some emergency random text.

 

[yngwenli]

No clue why people seem to be afraid of things that have never happened or maybe happened to literally one in a billion people.

 

[yngwenli]

Plus, coming to your house right after stealing your car would be…….. really stupid. They’d be meeting you and the police there since you just called the police because your car was stolen.

I just saw a report of someone who was carjacked and they burgurized her home right after...Of course, this is in San Fran, the land of smash and car grabs.

My thinking still goes back to no point in making things easier since you have no benefit to share/give that info so why do it?

As for reporting it after a car theft, sometimes you might not even know. If you parked on a city street for a week and there's street cleaning weekly, you may not know till you needed to move/use the car in 6-7 days. I had my wallet drop from my pocket into my car and I didn't know for quite a few hours.

 

[mwtechy]

Location+car model/make+car color and you give out your plate number? I'd say it's less about privacy and more about not getting called by police for some rando shit you had nothing todo with but everyone swears your car was the one speeding away from the rando completely illegal thing you want no part of. Just be smart man, blur the plate real simple.

 

[Gimme_my_MME]

Wait, you mean that's not what yours looks like in real life?

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