Why do people black out their license plates in pictures?

[Front Runner]

Always been curious of this and honestly want to understand why? Can they not been seen out on the street?

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[TimC]

Always been curious of this and honestly want to understand why? Can they not been seen out on the street?

Recently beat to death… err Discussed

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...lates-dont-seem-to-worry-so-why-do-you.50915/

 

[JRobes]

If you see it on the street, you already know it's location. If you see it in a picture on the internet, you could look up the plate and find out its location (or so I believe people think it could happen). Not sure how much of this is actually accessible by the public though.

 

[johnparjr]

Don’t need you lurking in my window ?

 

[Painkillerspe]

Makes no difference. A regular (non law enforcement) person can't just lookup anyone's plate number and access their information. Any online site claiming to do that is lying.

I use to have access to a DMV database and it was not something easy to obtain and access to it is heavily scrutinized. If I had to use it, I needed to provide justification.

 

[taliv]

Because privacy is important. You could be doxxed and harassed over nearly any comments you make from expressing political or religious beliefs to arguing about whether Mojave or rubicon is the best. Some lunatic or maladjusted ne’er do well off their meds could do things like report the vehicle stolen, or claim they saw a vehicle driving recklessly or DUI and report your plates. Or “I saw this guy with a machine gun punching a young girl and they got in a Green Jeep with this license plate…” Google “swatting” where people have been murdered by police because a kid in another country got mad in a video game and called 911 with a made up story.

 

[TrainMan]

I have NO IDEA but I started doing it because I see everyone else doing it. I figured there was a reason behind it, but not sure what it was lol.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Because people can sometimes be sheeple and worry too much about inane stuff. No one wants to look in your damn window. Hell, no one wants to look at you at all! lol

 

[Painkillerspe]

Because privacy is important. You could be doxxed and harassed over nearly any comments you make from expressing political or religious beliefs to arguing about whether Mojave or rubicon is the best. Some lunatic or maladjusted ne’er do well off their meds could do things like report the vehicle stolen, or claim they saw a vehicle driving recklessly or DUI and report your plates. Or “I saw this guy with a machine gun punching a young girl and they got in a Green Jeep with this license plate…” Google “swatting” where people have been murdered by police because a kid in another country got mad in a video game and called 911 with a made up story.

First they would need to know what police department to call. Not easy to do with a license plate. Your ip address gives away more information, that's how doxing works.

 

[taliv]

First they would need to know what police department to call. Not easy to do with a license plate. Your ip address gives away more information, that's how doxing works.

Most license plates have the state and county on them. In police work, they call that a clue.

 

[Gren71]

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Makes no difference. A regular (non law enforcement) person can't just lookup anyone's plate number and access their information. Any online site claiming to do that is lying.

I use to have access to a DMV database and it was not something easy to obtain and access to it is heavily scrutinized. If I had to use it, I needed to provide justification.

Yup - years ago when we worked for the state, my wife used to have access and then they cut it off and only specific law enforcement could access such into - with a written request with the reasoning, etc.
She couldn't even look up birthdays - she used to do that to get client info for the counselors.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Something tells me I messed this up.........

 

[AMM]

I'm used to removing my tags as my other car is a prime target for thieves and has been for years, and having previously lived in S.FL I've seen far too many get stolen/chopped/etc. Now that I've switched careers & locations, just find it easier to hide what ya can when ya can. And I like the cleaner look in photos.

Some simple Photoshop

And then I bought a couple of these to save the few minutes in PS
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PFT5Q2Q?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

 

[Dryfly24]

Because - Add paranoia to the long list of craziness that is the modern world…

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