Is posting license plates on the forums a bad idea?

[PyrPatriot]

Some information - likely stuff that's already public record - for example, I got all of the court information related to the guy who killed my father when he fell asleep and crossed the highway - all I needed was his NAME. No license plate needed. Public record - his arrests, tickets, the fines he paid and more. All just by plugging in his name. I knew he was arrested for violating curfew, had a ticket for driving 85 in a 55, lost his license, was arrested for driving while suspended......
That's because it's PUBLIC RECORD, not because of any numbers or pics on a forum.
If I knew your name I could get your address and likely find court records that are public record. Not that I want to, but it proves nothing at all. Either way.

Fair point. And my condolences for your loss. I lost my dad early in life, it sucks.

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[ShadowsPapa]

Fair point. And my condolences for your loss. I lost my dad early in life, it sucks.

Thanks, yeah - it sucks. It was a shock. Now, like a friend of mine said after he lost his father (like me, his mother died a couple of years earlier) - we're orphans.

 

[PyrPatriot]

Thanks, yeah - it sucks. It was a shock. Now, like a friend of mine said after he lost his father (like me, his mother died a couple of years earlier) - we're orphans.

We are all God's children.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

We are all God's children.

Yeah. And the circumstances of that accident - all the what-ifs, it was just freaky. And guess what the young guy who fell asleep that day is doing now? Youth ministry. Everyone says he's a totally different person - one who had been on a path of self-destruction.
Dad used to go around and pick up cans and bottles for redemption - made some spending money that way and folks loved it because he kept the roadsides cleaned up in the process. So their group is going to do the same one weekend a year and the money they collect through the can/bottle redemption is going into a scholarship fund.
(And I have some of the tools and other stuff Dad used to find in the ditches and along side the roads - some of the tools brand new, even a brand new hitch ball mount and ball. Back on topic, once in a while he'd find a license plate in the ditches, too)

 

[Gobi Wan K]

A lot of what information can be gained from a plate depends on the state. I believe most states won't give someone anything if they just walk in with a tag number. I used to be an officer many years ago and I know at that point a private citizen couldn't get any info without at least a court order.
There are online tools available now that were not there when I was on the job. But really those are just data mining and finding information that is generally public record such as tax, marriage, property, public arrest information and such.

 

[Renegade]

There are thousands of public and private license plate readers (LPRs)in operation all across this country. Theft recovery, parking lot management services, law enforcement...you name it. You can also pay for subscriptions with data companies which store all of this data, to be able to search their databases. It’s pretty crazy what’s already out there. If someone is “after you”, they can find you if you’re connected to the electronic world we live in. So, come get me!

 

[formattc]

There are thousands of public and private license plate readers (LPRs)in operation all across this country. Theft recovery, parking lot management services, law enforcement...you name it. You can also pay for subscriptions with data companies which store all of this data, to be able to search their databases. It’s pretty crazy what’s already out there. If someone is “after you”, they can find you if you’re connected to the electronic world we live in. So, come get me!

Exactly, the amount of data I have access to scares even me sometimes. Unless one has been living like the Unabomber for the last several years I have data on them and can find them. One common tactic they employ is try to throw up a smoke screen by hiding behind a spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend, and that only works for so long. I had a subject in rural Illinois a while back who no one else could find. I found his Facebook profile and he was being affectionate with some unknown guy in the photo. I figured out his boyfriend's name and then it was on. They were living in the next small town over and everything was in the boyfriend's name, we got him the next day. Another common tactic is to open a PO box and use that as their main address. That works for about two seconds as I can see their real physical address alongside the PO box.
As for LPR hits, I have access to the DRN and RMP networks.

 

[spazzyfry123]

With their tag number, I can find out every other piece of important information about their life, before I even start looking at Facebook.

I can see:

SSNs
Addresses, possibly going back decades.
Phone numbers, also possibly going back decades.
Email addresses.
IP addresses
Bankruptcies.
Lawsuits.
Criminal records.
Relatives, including distant, most often.
Utilities, utility bills.

....and more, so yes, hide your license plates online, always.

Mr. Robot over here...

 

[formattc]

Mr. Robot over here...

Florida is even easier because it's one of the few states where your tags expire on your birthday.

 

[spazzyfry123]

Florida is even easier because it's one of the few states where your tags expire on your birthday.

I come from Atlanta, so it’s all I know!

 

[ShadowsPapa]

For many years I worked in the security aspect or field of some companies - first was Compressor Controls Corp - a multi-national company based in Urbandale with offices all over the world. The dumb stuff people would do - disk sharing, pirating software, etc. - then one day our Texas office manager called all in a panic - yeah, the feds were there telling them all to "step away from your computers".
That guy freaked - what should we do? I told them - do as the feds say! And shut up. He wondered how anyone knew they were "sharing" software, even Microsoft stuff - DUH.......... They were lucky - Microsoft and the others were willing to let it go as a single case of piracy otherwise it was like 50 grand per computer normally. Dozens of computers.
And at the state - I ended up advising the central IT guys there and had to slap a few people after I got some software installed that detected phishing - and responses to same. Yeah, people in financial department of our agency were responding with their passwords!
I could not believe how naive people were - and trusting of any message they got. Once a couple of them were embarrassed by the fact that I let it be known who had responded, it didn't happen as often, but still, even after that there were people who figured "not me, it won't happen to me".
Shopping on government computers, clicking links they should not click - oh, but it might be important! I might miss out!
And one of the IT guys even figured out how to remove the firewall and other security on his computer at work and was using bit torrent to download movies, music, all pirated stuff........ so stupid as sometimes there are bombs planted in that stuff. Just ask the Aussies.

 

[formattc]

For many years I worked in the security aspect or field of some companies - first was Compressor Controls Corp - a multi-national company based in Urbandale with offices all over the world. The dumb stuff people would do - disk sharing, pirating software, etc. - then one day our Texas office manager called all in a panic - yeah, the feds were there telling them all to "step away from your computers".
That guy freaked - what should we do? I told them - do as the feds say! And shut up. He wondered how anyone knew they were "sharing" software, even Microsoft stuff - DUH.......... They were lucky - Microsoft and the others were willing to let it go as a single case of piracy otherwise it was like 50 grand per computer normally. Dozens of computers.
And at the state - I ended up advising the central IT guys there and had to slap a few people after I got some software installed that detected phishing - and responses to same. Yeah, people in financial department of our agency were responding with their passwords!
I could not believe how naive people were - and trusting of any message they got. Once a couple of them were embarrassed by the fact that I let it be known who had responded, it didn't happen as often, but still, even after that there were people who figured "not me, it won't happen to me".
Shopping on government computers, clicking links they should not click - oh, but it might be important! I might miss out!
And one of the IT guys even figured out how to remove the firewall and other security on his computer at work and was using bit torrent to download movies, music, all pirated stuff........ so stupid as sometimes there are bombs planted in that stuff. Just ask the Aussies.

My unit just terminated a long time guy about three weeks ago because he was watching Netflix on his work system and they detected the bandwidth usage at headquarters.

 

[Pion]

With their tag number, I can find out every other piece of important information about their life, before I even start looking at Facebook.

I can see:

SSNs
Addresses, possibly going back decades.
Phone numbers, also possibly going back decades.
Email addresses.
IP addresses
Bankruptcies.
Lawsuits.
Criminal records.
Relatives, including distant, most often.
Utilities, utility bills.

....and more, so yes, hide your license plates online, always.

As a prior Dept of Defense person who had their stuff exposed in a hack years ago, I consider all of that info to be public domain at this point. Also had it exposed in the Equifax hack, yay for online storage of everything related to me. I can't have my credit unlocked for more than a couple of days before I have fraudulent apps submitted. Regardless, there is nothing about the license plate that is any different from daily life that would make posting it online a big deal. Of course if one has a warrant out for their arrest or likes to commit various crimes, then creating an online record of vehicle and plate are not a good idea. I would assume the vast majority of us don't have those concerns though.

 

[smlobx]

My former neighbor was a specialist with the FBI in tracking down people and told me that with today’s information and online presence it is very easy to find 99% of the population in less than 5 minutes...of course I would expect they have access to data bases that most of us don’t..

As far as license plates are concerned I’m not worried if people find me...I have nothing to hide...

 

[ShadowsPapa]

My unit just terminated a long time guy about three weeks ago because he was watching Netflix on his work system and they detected the bandwidth usage at headquarters.

All they did where I worked was said "please don't do that any more".
I went all through the chain of command reporting it - and it kept dying at each level. Finally the local TV station got wind of it (gee, I wonder how) and they did a piece and had a security expert come in and show how the whole state network could have been compromised by that IT guy.
I took the info to the county attorney, DCI and even the FBI.
I was the one in trouble, though - and they kept watch over me really close and I got called into the administrator's office (agency admin) and chewed royally. (OK, so I leaked it to the media) finally when I had had enough I went to my boss's boss and said - you know according to SCOTUS and the Iowa Supreme court, and Iowa law - I'm a whistelblower and thus have some protections. I view this as harassment as I was doing my JOB as described and pointed to the contract and rules. They backed off and suddenly I was a friend. Seriously, though - the Polk County attorney, DCI and others were fighting over jurisdiction then the FBI stepped in but in the end the FBI said they didn't have the resources to follow-up so it was dropped because once they stepped in no one else could touch it. John Sarcone, the PC attorney back then was PO'd as he wanted to hang the guy.
There was even a page later on the ISU web site stating how our agency management was wrong, I and the TV station were correct and they explained exactly how someone could have used that idiots bit torrent use to get in and take over.
Yeah, the guy who did the pirating and bit torrent was slapped but continued to work there for months until he finally quit.
Even the head of the whole state IT was ticked at me because it made them look bad! All things were swept under rugs there. Lost devices with client info it was always stated "nothing on it" and swept under the rug. Gee, guys - don't you know that even if it's deleted it's not deleted? They freaked when I did a demonstration using a Ubuntu boot CD and put it into one of the agency Windows-based computers, booted the computer and navigated to the web cache and showed tables containing all of our client info - names, addresses, SSNs, and MORE. They asked how to prevent that - I said encrypt everything and let me control it through AD and other means. I mean hundreds of client names, fully revealed and in plain English. But I warned them - if I gained remote access when a person is logged in the info is decrypted so a hacker could still navigate to their local drive and grab the info - phishing and other security threats became even more deadly.
I had them sweating as they had to fill out long forms from the SSA to get the ability to receive info direct from SSA - I told them I would not agree to sign off until changes were made. It meant millions to them.

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