# This message should be removed.... **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 23, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840 "2017-03-23T16:25:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/41 "2017-03-24T05:54:31Z")
Good Lord! We can see the color of the car. Indecent! ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/42 "2017-03-24T09:36:38Z")
Now I’m seeing 2 different sets of black circles toggling back and forth as I click. Can’t do the drinking game this time, I’m headed to work. Seems like the picture poster is having some fun with us. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/43 "2017-03-24T10:49:07Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Well, don’t do those things, and you won’t have to worry about it. > > I don’t where it’s my job to cover for your bad behavior… Oh, I’m in full agreement with you. As I said upthread I see no valid reason why Google or anyone else should blur plates. I was simply enumerating the ways that someone could come a cropper if the plates were visible. > [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > If you are telling the truth, you should not be worried by photographs like this. And if you’re not, _I_ have no obligation to support your falsehood. Or even to make effort to avoid exposing it. Again, I agree. Although I have to say I’m always a little dubious about the ‘if you have nothing to hide you shouldn’t be worried’ schtick. That’s used too much and often to justify the most outrageous and unwarranted snooping by government. In other words no, plates should not be blurred but it shouldn’t be justified on those insidious grounds. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/44 "2017-03-24T11:32:50Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I looked up the license plate. That car belongs to Barbra Streisand. Boy, that was quick. She has announced a press conference for noon today, where she’ll prove you wrong by showing the actual plates on her cars. ---
**Author:** ![andrewm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@andrewm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/45 "2017-03-24T12:29:20Z")
It bears repeating in this thread that the car in question appears to have a set of **automatic license plate readers** installed on it. It is the _height_ of irony to act concerned about the privacy of one individual who is arguably by the same logic violating that same privacy of thousands of people per day. One almost wonders if the OP here doth protest too much. ---
**Author:** ![ToughLife](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@ToughLife](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToughLife)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/46 "2017-03-24T12:55:21Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > The thing is, ever since the Clinton administration, it has been illegal for the DMV to give out personal information, so someone can’t track down who you are from your license plate. but not in the UK > **[DVLA made £10m in a year by selling on names and addresses](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9994089/DVLA-made-10m-in-a-year-by-selling-on-names-and-addresses.html)** > > The Driving Vehicle and Licensing Agency has sold millions of details about drivers to parking firms, in deals that netted the agency £10m last year. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/47 "2017-03-24T13:07:22Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > The same issue can arise if the husband’s recognizable face appears in a crowd shot, like “OK, who was the blonde you were sitting net to at the Knicks game, when you said you had to work late?” But the presenter of the image has no responsibility to obscure the identities of anyone recognizable, unless there is knowing intent to present the person in a compromising situation. Decades ago when my Dad was a boss, he burst out laughing one morning at breakfast while reading the paper. Handing me the paper he commented, “\ called in sick yesterday.” He’d been reading the sports section and on the front page was a large photo of the winner of the big golf tournament in town sinking a putt. Underling was right there in the front of the gallery with a big grin on his face. Being one of those bosses who gets in ahead of everyone else, Dad left the sports section on Underling’s desk, but took no further action. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/48 "2017-03-24T13:24:51Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Oh, I’m in full agreement with you. As I said upthread I see no valid reason why Google or anyone else should blur plates. I was simply enumerating the ways that someone could come a cropper if the plates were visible. Following that logic path leads us to some pretty strange destinations. For instance, I have no idea of the license plate number on the vehicles of my wife and kids, but I would instantly recognize each of their vehicles if photographed from the back. Two have a different but easily identifiable sticker on the rear window, one has a broken tail light (get that fixed, son!), and one has a ding on the bumper. That, along with the color and make, identifies them to me much better than a tag number. So the logical conclusion is…to ensure privacy, blur everything! ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/49 "2017-03-24T14:02:43Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > So the logical conclusion is…to ensure privacy, blur everything! Better yet: no photography, EVER. Because privacy. And also to prevent souls from being stolen. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/50 "2017-03-24T19:04:49Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Better yet: no photography, EVER. Because privacy. And also to prevent souls from being stolen. :rolleyes: I can get behind this! But it must include any form of photography, even voluntary. So no TV, movies, online videos, etc. Not even kitten videos! And all existing photos, film, video, etc. must be immediately destroyed, every camera confiscated, every hard drive wiped clean. There is absolutely no reason that a license plate, able to be viewed by everyone driving/walking down the street, needs to be blurred. I can see Google blurring them, as it might link an automobile to an address and that could pose problems for sheltered women or men. But that’s very different, as different as someone taking a picture of a woman (or a man, I’m not judging) in a skirt walking down a public street (which happens to everyone who goes out anywhere, there are so many security cameras) and someone taking an upskirt of the same person. If the person hosting the photo wishes to block the plate, well, you be you. Personally, I would not have given in. License plates are public. That’s why they are on the outside of a vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2017, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/51 "2017-03-25T04:54:46Z")
Barbra Streisand effect, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2017, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/52 "2017-03-25T05:03:31Z")
this reminds me of all the self posted nude pics that had blurred faces back in the old .alt news groups …once people realized no one was going to track them down from newsgroups they mainly quit the practice ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/53 "2017-03-27T00:20:51Z")
I was once a serious photog The rule was: Anything readily viewable from a public space is NOT private and you need no release signed to use the pic. So, technically, I could photography a person’s face and then sell the image to one and all. The photographed person would have no claim because this was taken in a public space, where there is NO expectation of privacy. This seems to be another “alternate fact”: You must never show a license plate number not your own. No such rule ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/54 "2017-03-27T01:58:34Z")
The recent concern is over putting out information traceable to an individual that can help locate and identify said individual. That means posting a picture on Facetogram that has your teenage daughter, her car with license plate, EXIF data on where the picture was taken, and is posted right next to posts showing her school and dance team. That’s a string of information that a predator could use to track her down. He has her face, knows where she goes to school, knows she does dance team activities, and knows what her car looks like. Showing some random stranger’s car with the license plate visible on _your_ twitbook or posted fairly anonymously on an internet message board does not provide those kinds of connections. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/55 "2017-03-27T04:07:39Z")
This is why I always put stolen plates on my car. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840.md?page=2)