Redacting License Plates in Pictures

[ChrisInNashville]

As I was researching ways of attaching my new 15 Yr Member Grill Badge (again, thank you very much!), I came across a post from 3-4 years that wandered down some discussion on why some people block out our license plate numbers in pictures.    In that post, there was some reference to law enforcement having access....and I thought I'd share a little story.

Several years ago, I got a call - at the office - from someone I didn't know inquiring about my car.   
She had seen it parked on the street and tracked me down at the office because she had private access to a state database.   
Long story short, she was an attorney.   She had access to the state database for asset tracing in lawsuits.   
As part of the access, she signed certain reps that she violated in using the access to find me.   
In short, the State of Tennessee (and I'm guessing others) makes a rebuttable presumption that certain professions are trustworthy and therefore worthy of access with minimal oversight or restriction.   
So, her access made for an easy google search to find me - both professionally and personally.
Needless to say, when I pushed back on the "how'd you find me" question...she got very nervous and backtracked quickly.   While I didn't pursue this further on her...it was a wake up call for me.

To some, this might matter.   So, I thought I'd share my experience.   Honestly, while I share things here with relative ease and comfort because of the caliber of membership, the world has become more complex and we should all be aware for the potential coming from misuse of something as basic as a license plate #.

I wish smooth roads to all!
Chris

[Garry]

Just to add a bit more on this, another forum i am on advised if you only swipe once to cover the number plate then when a person saves the photo and then edits it and puts full contrast on, the number will often show through anyway.  You need to swipe it back and forth several times.

[Benz Dr.]

License plates are a matter of public access, in that anyone can see your plate number as you drive or your car is parked. They may not know who owns it but getting your plate number is as easy as writing it down.
Pictures on the net make it easier for anyone to see your number and that's where it may make a difference. Is that difference substantial or not, who knows?

[MikeSimon]

If you have a proper photo editing program/software you can delete the license plate so that nobody can retract it.

[mdsalemi]

My own opinion is that feeling the need to redact or blur a license plate is unnecessary fear bordering on paranoia.

If you have an important need for anonymity you shouldn’t own or drive a highly distinctive car that turns heads, draws attention and encourages admirers to take photos. You shouldn’t participate in events of any kind, or projects or social media. You should not ever associate your name with a photo of the car, license plate or not. If someone wants to desperately find you they will.

ChrisInNashville’ story was rare in that it was a lawyer with access to a state database using her access against the rules and agreements she agreed to. He didn’t tell us why she tracked him down; perhaps it was not a nefarious reason. But short of not ever taking his car out, or removing his license plate when he parks ( which is against all laws!) there is nothing Chris could have done to prevent this from happening and it really has nothing to do with redacting of license plates.

When I put the Pagoda Style book together 10 years ago, two participants had similar concerns. One of them had me disguise the location of the car. The concern this participant had was that because he lived in a small area, the bad guys would track him down and the car, and it would be a target for theft. Another participant had me redact the license plate. I tried to airbrush it in the most beautiful way so as to not draw attention to it. No matter what we did it looked awful. Thus after a number of trials and versions, we finally left it alone.

Nobody else had any concerns at that time and I don’t think anybody had any problems.

[MikeSimon]

Good points, Mike. Wonder why people get vanity plates.. and then black them out?

[Raymond]

I've never understood why TV car shows blur out the license plates of cars in traffic or in the background behind the one they're shooting.  I've only asked a couple of attorneys, who both had only speculative ideas as to why...maybe.  I've had a couple of Producers give me convoluted explanations or pure conjecture.  NBC cautioned me about it and then broadcast the shows when I chose not to blur plates.  If you were identifying someone in the witness protection program and showing their license plate, I'd understand that.  But, plates in photos from Cars & Coffee shouldn't be an issue.

[Rothko]

License plate numbers are definitely in the public domain.  They are available for anyone to see, write down, or photograph.  And you can't stop anyone from taking a photo of your car as you drive it and then posting it somewhere on Instagram or wherever, with your plate showing.

Heck, where I live, on an island, there are cameras on the bridges that read the license plate of every car coming onto the island, and then running those numbers through the police computers.  Any car reported as stolen, or with warrants, or whatever, is going to be pulled over very quickly.

[Merc_Girl]

I thought the concern of having your number plate showing is more to do with concerns over cloning (ie your number plate is duplicated and put on a similar car for purposes of crime or deception).

Whilst those who have access to number plate databases should not use for personal use, by having a picture of your number plate showing on an open forum (ie car for sale site) provides criminals with far greater opportunity to find a legitimate number plate for their illegitimate car

[MikeSimon]

Good point, Merc_Girl. Never thought of that

[mdsalemi]

Rothko has it right.

Basically you can walk on any street, any town or city, anywhere in the world and see any any number of license plates affixed to cars. So if you want to illegally clone a plate, you don’t need to see any photos. Redacted plates make the [overtly concerned] owner feel good…but do nothing to prevent any crime from happening.

But, hey—if it makes you feel secure just take the plate off the car prior to taking photos. Makes life easier for the photo editor! 😉

[Merc_Girl]

Rothko has it right.

Basically you can walk on any street, any town or city, anywhere in the world and see any any number of license plates affixed to cars. So if you want to illegally clone a plate, you don’t need to see any photos. Redacted plates make the [overtly concerned] owner feel good…but do nothing to prevent any crime from happening.

But, hey—if it makes you feel secure just take the plate off the car prior to taking photos. Makes life easier for the photo editor! 😉

I find it a little odd that you have dismissed the cloning element as an issue. It is certainly quite prevalent in the UK.

I was merely pointing out that if one was of a criminal mindset, and say had quite a common car, it is a lot easier to sit at home looking for a car like yours than walking around the streets hoping to find the same car. if  fake documents can be obtained,  stollen cars can be sold on

This is all very unlikely to happen in forums such as this, but I would certainly would not have my number plate showing on an open website. Much like I would not show my full name and address on an open website, even though our house name is on our gate.

Why advertise what you need not do

[mdsalemi]

And therein lies the puzzlement.

You can’t take your car out of a closed garage onto a public thoroughfare, without risking this “cloning” as has been suggested. A photograph doesn’t seem to mean anything.

I have not heard of cloning being much of a problem in the USA, but if the installation of traffic cams increases, it may very well be. But, people who drive with a cloned plate are probably “driving on the edge” and may God help them if they get pulled over with a fraudulent plate. In some places I’d imagine the car may be impounded and driving privileges revoked.

You cannot have your name on a mailbox and worry about privacy either. Land and building and home ownership is all public information here. So is what you pay in taxes, or what you either sold or bought your home for. Goodness, with Google earth you can view your home and neighborhood. I can even “map” rooftops with astounding accuracy (needed in some inspections I do).

If one is looking for elaborate privacy best to “unplug” and live off the grid. But if your goal is preventing cloning there is little you can do but take stock of the fact that statistically (compared to the number of cars on the road with legitimate plates) it’s rare.

[Merc_Girl]

And therein lies the puzzlement.

You can’t take your car out of a closed garage onto a public thoroughfare, without risking this “cloning” as has been suggested. A photograph doesn’t seem to mean anything.

I have not heard of cloning being much of a problem in the USA, but if the installation of traffic cams increases, it may very well be. But, people who drive with a cloned plate are probably “driving on the edge” and may God help them if they get pulled over with a fraudulent plate. In some places I’d imagine the car may be impounded and driving privileges revoked.

You cannot have your name on a mailbox and worry about privacy either. Land and building and home ownership is all public information here. So is what you pay in taxes, or what you either sold or bought your home for. Goodness, with Google earth you can view your home and neighborhood. I can even “map” rooftops with astounding accuracy (needed in some inspections I do).

If one is looking for elaborate privacy best to “unplug” and live off the grid. But if your goal is preventing cloning there is little you can do but take stock of the fact that statistically (compared to the number of cars on the road with legitimate plates) it’s rare.

The Uk has cameras everywhere for speed checks and everything else, plus the police have PNCR on their vehicles to check cars. Maybe this is why cloning happens more over here?