Blanking number plates on posted photos?
Discussion
So here's a contentious subject for the pub - to obliterate the vehicle's registration mark on posted photos or not to...
IMHO if you take your car on the road then it's no secret (after all, there are how many cameras pointed at you in the UK?) so why blank out a number plate on a car that has been on a public run (unless, of course, you have your address posted under your profile)?!
IMHO if you take your car on the road then it's no secret (after all, there are how many cameras pointed at you in the UK?) so why blank out a number plate on a car that has been on a public run (unless, of course, you have your address posted under your profile)?!
i had a heated debate about this on another forum, i said i can't see why, but several people came up with all sorts of wild ideas about people finding out where you live etc. and how easy it was. so i wrote my number plate up, and challenged them that if it was so easy, tell me where i live.....i'm still waiting after a couple of years!
yes i suppose there's a risk of your car being cloned, but thats no greater than if you're driving your car around... so can't see a problem my self really.
yes i suppose there's a risk of your car being cloned, but thats no greater than if you're driving your car around... so can't see a problem my self really.
Suppose you were in the business of stealing cars, and that included stealing rare, expensive cars to order.
Suppose one of your clients - say, a Russian oligarch who made his billions when the state assets were looted and handed out to special friends - instructed you to get him a Zonda, for which he expected to pay quite a bit less than the market price.
How would you find one?
You could cruise the roads of Britain until you happened upon a Zonda. That might take you, say, thirty or forty years. Even if you didn't mind taking the time to do all that driving around, surely you would refrain because of all the greenhouse gases that you would generate.
Instead of driving around for thirty or forty years, you could do an internet search under "Zonda", which would bring you to things such as this:
www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?t=339707&f=23&h=0
Now you would have a reg plate for a Zonda. Then you would simply call the geniuses at the DVLA, who will give you the Zonda's RK's details for either a few pounds or, alternatively, a lollipop.
That whole process might take you half an hour. Through it, you will learn where you can likely find a Zonda, and its keys.
Even if the car isn't at that address, there's a good chance that you would find there quite a few other things that would interest you.
eccles said:
yes i suppose there's a risk of your car being cloned, but thats no greater than if you're driving your car around... so can't see a problem my self really.
If you were a wrong 'un planning to clone say, a blue Cayman, would you drive around on the off chance that you found a blue Cayman or would you go to a Cayman forum and spend half an hour hunting for pictures?
Cars like mine (very common) are at risk of being cloned. Cars like Flemke's (very expensive) are at risk of being tracked down. There are sites devoted to identifying owners (F1's, not ST's) and I believe it's a common courtesy to protect people by taking a minute with MS Paint to blank out numberplates.
Is that the DVLA...? 
thekirbyfake said:
eccles said:
yes i suppose there's a risk of your car being cloned, but thats no greater than if you're driving your car around... so can't see a problem my self really.
If you were a wrong 'un planning to clone say, a blue Cayman, would you drive around on the off chance that you found a blue Cayman or would you go to a Cayman forum and spend half an hour hunting for pictures?
Cars like mine (very common) are at risk of being cloned. Cars like Flemke's (very expensive) are at risk of being tracked down. There are sites devoted to identifying owners (F1's, not ST's) and I believe it's a common courtesy to protect people by taking a minute with MS Paint to blank out numberplates.
or you could just look in auto trader, the small ads in cayman monthly etc. etc.
eccles said:
Fruitcake said:
Read Pikey's thread about this, someone cloned the plate on his Cayman and put it on a... moped. Proof really that it's just as easy to make them up!
can it be proved that it was down to seeing the car on the internet?.... or was it just a random plate?
This is kind of the point. If you were going to go to the bother of using the interweb to nick a plate, why not nick a moped one? Why pick a Cayman? I think it was just made up.
mmm-five said:
The general view I have when taking photo's at track days/club meets/car shows is, if the owner can't be arsed covering/removing their plate then I can't be arsed Photoshopping it out afterwards.
Ah, yes.
Then it would have been the car owner's fault for presuming that he or she could trust all the supposedly like-minded, supposedly decent and considerate people attending the track day or club meet?
Big mistake - not foreseeing that amongst all the good folks at the event there might be someone like you:
mmm-five said:
I can't be arsed
Fruitcake said:
eccles said:
Fruitcake said:
Read Pikey's thread about this, someone cloned the plate on his Cayman and put it on a... moped. Proof really that it's just as easy to make them up!
can it be proved that it was down to seeing the car on the internet?.... or was it just a random plate?
This is kind of the point. If you were going to go to the bother of using the interweb to nick a plate, why not nick a moped one? Why pick a Cayman? I think it was just made up.
In that instance, yes.
However, if you stole a Cayman and ran it for a while, might you not clone the plates of a genuine, legal Cyman so that you would not be picked out by stationary ANPRs or the systems in cruising Police vehicles?
JamieBeeston said:
Is this why your F1 in Evo appears to be sporting a NonUK Compliant plate Flemke?
Jamie,
It's pretty standard practice for a magazine to use unreal reg numbers. If one were asked to loan them a car, one would probably make it a prerequisite. They hate to blank out numbers - it's considered unphotogenic.
The challenge for them is to get the DVLA's approval to publish a false number. Obviously it wouldn't do for them to make up a number, only to find that in fact it belonged on someone else's car.
Courtesy and making life easier for your fellow photographers are strong enough reasons to blank plates when requested. Beyond that it's a futile gesture, the public nature of number plates makes cloning a doddle without needing any need for online criminal 'research'.
Suppose you were in the business of stealing cars, and that included stealing rare, expensive cars to order.
Suppose one of your clients - say, a Russian oligarch who made his billions when the state assets were looted and handed out to special friends - instructed you to get him a Zonda, for which he expected to pay quite a bit less than the market price.
How would you find one?
Break into Hudsons.
This is a work of imagination up there with the evil genius who has old masters stolen to order. Quite aside from the oligarchs' ability, and desire, to order their toys direct from the manufacturer, gold plated, and with quilted walrus scrotum interiors, where would such a person drive their hot Zonda ?
flemke said:
Suppose you were in the business of stealing cars, and that included stealing rare, expensive cars to order.
Suppose one of your clients - say, a Russian oligarch who made his billions when the state assets were looted and handed out to special friends - instructed you to get him a Zonda, for which he expected to pay quite a bit less than the market price.
How would you find one?
Break into Hudsons.
This is a work of imagination up there with the evil genius who has old masters stolen to order. Quite aside from the oligarchs' ability, and desire, to order their toys direct from the manufacturer, gold plated, and with quilted walrus scrotum interiors, where would such a person drive their hot Zonda ?
flemke said:
JamieBeeston said:
Is this why your F1 in Evo appears to be sporting a NonUK Compliant plate Flemke?
Jamie,
It's pretty standard practice for a magazine to use unreal reg numbers. If one were asked to loan them a car, one would probably make it a prerequisite. They hate to blank out numbers - it's considered unphotogenic.
The challenge for them is to get the DVLA's approval to publish a false number. Obviously it wouldn't do for them to make up a number, only to find that in fact it belonged on someone else's car.
Thanks for the clarification! I noticed a few of the other cars were on real looking plates, but had just attributed this to a different owner demographic.
F1 has always been my dream car.. It's only a matter one when
Thanks
J
Gassing Station | General Gassing [Archive] | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff