I've been told this by every computer geek I've ever raised the "personal/public information" argument with...(not to say you're a computer geek, but you get my drift). How about I PM you my phone number & you PM me said "everything you everything you ever wanted to know about yourself"........you've piqued my interest, as well as some speculation. Or, if you want to, we can substantiate this thread & I'll PM you my tag #, and stick to the initial argument...let me know if you're down.

 

Lets pretend your Joe the Thief. You want to steal ... anything. Think like Joe (not like a normal, law abiding ppl). You stumble upon a car forum ... hmm MINIs, not exactly Mercedes but lets see what here. BTW, Joe lives in Smalltown, USA

Joe looks at the locations and finds say 75 MINI owners live in Smalltown, USA ... Cool .... some potential victoms

Now when to break in ... oh wait, The Victom is headed to the Dragon, after all, all The Victom is listed as being registered ... oh cool, and +1 ... Thats nice of him to bring the wife.

Guess whose house gets hit May 4?

You all got to protect yourself where you can.

 

Here in mexico you can see some info about the car and also the owner from each state goverment plates web sites. so is better not to show them, so focus on the beuty of the car not the plates enjoy the MINI Anathomy.

Cheers.

 

Blur outs never look good...I usually go with a few numbers and letters dropped out:

 

I completly agree w/ Saakey. I have remove some number from my license plate, via computer editing not removing phisically from the license plate.

 

Saakey how'd you get the MD shield in there?

 

Me either, seems completely unnecessary to me.

 

I figure if you are so paranoid that you are masking you plates on-line then you need to lighten up. Life is too short to waste time blurring out your plate for fear of bigfoot and nelly the lock ness monster stealing your identity and buying a bunch of stuff from the easter bunny and santa clause on Ebay.

There are soooo many other things to worry about before identity theft from a plate knower:

1. Global Warming
2. Global Ice Age (no not the movie)
3. Terrorism
4. Communism
5. Snakes
6. Bobcats
7. Snake Bobcat hybrid animals (think about it it would be scarry)
8. Crazed
A. Hillbillies
B. Urban Gang Members
C. Suburban Spoild Rotten Kids
D. Teachers who sleep with their students
9. The Government
10. Aliens
11. Aliens controlled by the Government
12. Bird Flue
13. Heart disease
14. Cancer
15. Drunk drivers
16. SUV drivers
17. Sleep drivers
18. Oh hell you get the point.

So take a chill pill and show us your plates, and while you are at it give us your SSN, home address, daily schedule, blood type, a DNA sample and your first born because from you plate we can get all that stuff anyway.

 

I didn't.... it comes that way ...I like it too

 

What's the big deal? If someone wants to blur their stuff, let them go for it! You may think the delta in security is miniscule, but it does depend on local, so WTF? Let people do whatever they want.......

Matt

 

Dr - I'm not getting on anyone (although it may have slightly gone that way) - I was just putting a thought on the floor for some discussion.
I say blur away, if it's what makes you happy.

 

Who cares about that CRAP (did someone say CRAP)?

Maybe this should be moved to the PI thread. Global warming, please. I say let it all heat up, its too cold here anyway

 

I want to see 7/8 of the earth's surface covered by water in my lifetime!!!
Enough of this 3/4 nonsense!

Surf's up, people. Let's start buying land on the "west coast" of Nevada, so we're there for the first high tide!!!!

 

What he said!

I'm so sick of the alarmists ... "Oh no, we are going to run out of oil by 1980" said by alarmist during the 1973 Oil Embargo,

I say why did the almight make dinosours if not to give us all OIL!!!... Greenhouse effect is GOOD, just think about how much money flower growers wont have to spend in BUILDING greenhouses ... A dollar saved is a Dollar earned!

 

But as a scientist that actually looks at issues of energy use growth, resource management, the social desicion process, retreat of glaciers and the like, I get sickened by the willfull ignorace that is exhibited over these issues. It makes me want to puke. Just think, world enegy consumption up by 50% by 2025. And because we're (as a world society) so short term focused, and scientifically illiterate, we're gonna screw the pooch massivly, and be stuck with the high costs of mitigation.....

Back on topic.

Blur this!

Matt

 

A challenge? Oh, how I love a good challenge, but if I were to run you, I would need to have a real good reason as to why, other then "Well, sir, I was challenged and the other person was curious..." We have to log everything in...but if it helps to prove a point, I was recieving harrassing phone calls from some idiot at crazy hours passed midnight. Being as I had caller ID, I did a reverse phone directory seach, and scared the crap out of the caller when I returned his call...I gave him his name, his adress , his phone number, his driver's license (not just his tag #) and told him if he didn't stop bothering me, he would have me and my buddies (boys in blue) at his door...I hadn't heard from him since. Point made.

I have the resources available to me, and I do not misuse them...it can be so-o-o tempting and it is so-o-o easy to invade another person's space...I have been entrusted not to. So, I will have to decline your invite, sorry if I disappoint you.... Mick

 

Yo Matt, you did see the smilies in my first post?

If I had been serious, I can understand your willful ignorance comment. Many people think only about "whats in it for me" and want instant gratification.

On the other hand, I do think there are way too many alarmists (mostly coming from liberal Hollywood (not being political) throwing out "end of the world" movies. Especially the Oil alarmists. ... I know, don't drill in Alaska (more PI).

 

Doing a reverse lookup you can get more than that. You can get also all his neighbors. Now, if you really want to know more go here http://www.zillow.com/ type in an address and you will find out MUCH more than you might want to know about anybodies house (e.g., when it was built, lot #, square feet, etc.) Then just go to your local counties tax records (Google for it) and all the tax records are public domain and you can see when it was bought, how much, previous owners, etc.

Kind of scary huh? If you don't think crooks can easily use this info ...

 

Mine is MINI MAS (Greek for OUR MINI)

I'm not a woman concerned about potential stalkers so I don't hide it... No fear and parnoia here.... "Paranoia big destroya!" ;-)

 

just not as severe.

Matt

 

I don't bother since my plate is my screen name = W3IWI (which is my old amateur radio call).

 

I wont do mine.... cause its a vanity plate.... (QNOFNE)

... and cause I am a pink MINI... how much anonomity can I expect?

 

Whoa dude ... way too serious ... not even a close comparison. I get where your coming from.

You need to join the PI thread and really

 

So, Dr Obnxs is getting more interesting every day! I *should* have said hello in Las Vegas as I motored behind you through Red Rock Park. The MCsq article has you as a Dr of Theoretical Physics, and then when I read in the post above you talk about your research into resource management and energy issues I get more and more interested--I am the Chair of the economics department at UNM--one of the leading departments doing resource and environmental research, especially social decision making and risk management. I see an invitation to give a seminar coming your way, and I can hang out with the leading MINI tech guru at the same time! Are you affiliated with a university at present?
---back to the subject. I looked up the latest data on auto thefts, after reading chow4us' interesting "scenario" about the theft of MINIs. Well, unless the thief can't tell the difference between a MINI and Honda/Acura, you can rest pretty quietly at night, especially if your car is locked in the garage! Remember, most crimes are motivated, most criminals are opportunists and totally rational (just not law-abiding.) This reduces the chance of a MINI theft pretty severely, unless you've inadvertantly left the keys in the ignition and gone on vacation...

cheers, phil

 

I think is more than clear about showing or not the license plate. i think is time to close the thread.

"Do what you want, for sure we will see the MINI's"