Maybe it’s just me, but that makes zero sense. Your license plate is visible to literally EVERYONE when you’re driving around and even parked in your driveway. Why blur it out in pictures?
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The concern is that on the Internet, you never know WHAT is going to inspire someone to suddenly devote the energy into doxxing. Part of the culture has become over reacting to that risk.
But yes, a license plate is public information, and it’s very difficult to go from a plate to a full doxx. Other things, like photos of your kids or your signature, are more dangerous.
Yes. Logical. Also so many people want to hide their bank account number and routing number. Literally everyone I have ever written a check to has those items at the bottom of my check.
Anyone can see a photo of a license plate and connect that to whatever username/screen name you are posting from. That’s one more piece of information that can be combined with all the other bits of information or pictures that you may have posted that can lead to doxxing or some level of identity fraud. And this may be trivially easy to compile, as the data is already there, which means more people would be willing to do it, either out of pure malice or for their own gain.
If you just see a car on the road, all you have is the license plate. You don’t know anything about that person, and you would need to actively dig into that car/person’s history to get similar information. It’s a lot more work to track someone’s personal details when they’re not actively sharing them.
The concern is that on the Internet, you never know WHAT is going to inspire someone to suddenly devote the energy into doxxing. Part of the culture has become over reacting to that risk.
But yes, a license plate is public information, and it’s very difficult to go from a plate to a full doxx. Other things, like photos of your kids or your signature, are more dangerous.
Anyone can see a photo of a license plate and connect that to whatever username/screen name you are posting from. That’s one more piece of information that can be combined with all the other bits of information or pictures that you may have posted that can lead to doxxing or some level of identity fraud. And this may be trivially easy to compile, as the data is already there, which means more people would be willing to do it, either out of pure malice or for their own gain.
If you just see a car on the road, all you have is the license plate. You don’t know anything about that person, and you would need to actively dig into that car/person’s history to get similar information. It’s a lot more work to track someone’s personal details when they’re not actively sharing them.
The concern is that on the Internet, you never know WHAT is going to inspire someone to suddenly devote the energy into doxxing. Part of the culture has become over reacting to that risk.
But yes, a license plate is public information, and it’s very difficult to go from a plate to a full doxx. Other things, like photos of your kids or your signature, are more dangerous.
The simple answer is the internet is full of creeps. There are plenty of documented cases of individuals using internet searches to stalk and harass those who hold different views, or for predation, or for the lulz (like “swatting”). If you post a picture with a license plate, and someone takes that and uses it to track down the owner of that car for the purposes of harassing them, you could be held liable.
I’m not a lawyer, so I’m not sure how much things like this would be held up in court, but people take the prudent approach and blank out that attributable data.
Yes. Logical. Also so many people want to hide their bank account number and routing number. Literally everyone I have ever written a check to has those items at the bottom of my check.
Yes. Logical. Also so many people want to hide their bank account number and routing number. Literally everyone I have ever written a check to has those items at the bottom of my check.
The simple answer is the internet is full of creeps. There are plenty of documented cases of individuals using internet searches to stalk and harass those who hold different views, or for predation, or for the lulz (like “swatting”). If you post a picture with a license plate, and someone takes that and uses it to track down the owner of that car for the purposes of harassing them, you could be held liable.
I’m not a lawyer, so I’m not sure how much things like this would be held up in court, but people take the prudent approach and blank out that attributable data.
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