dfiorito

I noticed a lot of people block out their license plates when posting a picture of their car.

I never did and was wondering why they do that? Is identity theft possible?

Any comments?

Helmar

I would expect that from a license plate, you can find out the address of a home with lots of good stuff to steal, and a shiny new Lexus to drive off in!

HBH

joedaddy1

iTrader: (1)

bingo.. it's not necessary.. but it gives me a little piece of mind~

dsc07

Yeah, Paranoia. For every person that see's the plate # on this website, there are probably 1000 that will see it on the street.

encore888

I still think it's a good idea to block it out...people might copy the photos and repost them online as their own, or as part of fraudulent auction listings, etc. With a license plate, photo, you could possibly get the make, color info, and license plate for who knows what. I realize that many more see things on the street, but having the info on a pic online is like parking your car in the city center for all to see, 24/7.

And on the off chance that someone lives near you happens to see your car, and somehow link that information with/to your online profile to cause undue trouble, it's just a good precaution. It only takes a few seconds.

Luxofreak

^^ Exactly. Better safe than sorry.

Nospinzone

I guess your caution should depend on which state you live in. For example, years ago license plate info was considered public information in Massachusetts. Anyone could look up your plate number and see the name and address of the registered owner.

I don't know how long ago it was, but the State changed that and now only law enforcement or other government agencies can access that information and they have to have a valid reason. So even if you have a friend who is a local cop and ask him to look up a plate number for you, that "look up" is logged in the computer at the RMV. So if something happened, they could see who accessed that plate number. They can also see if a particular cop is accessing many more plates than would be normal.

So if you have a Massachusetts plate, I wouldn't bother blocking out your number. Elsewhere, well, use your best judgement.

GS430 GUY

Well there is always Westlaw, which allows one to lookup a license plate and find the registrant's information, if I recall correctly. Of course you need to have a plan that includes the public record lookup in their plan.