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Blacking out registration numbers

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2020 1:28 pm
by biggiefl
Why do people black out the registration numbers when they post pics of their boats? What am I going to do with that information? It is not like I can steal your registration. You drive around all day on the water and park it in your yard or dock with them revealed. Can anyone please explain the motive or benefit of doing this, especially when you have your e-mail and possibly phone number in the ad or in your profile. I never understood it with car license plates and now it seems to be the norm with reg. numbers. I am very curious about the reasoning behind it.

Re: Blacking out registration numbers

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2020 5:31 pm
by jimh
I also think the practice is very weird. Generally it shows how awful the person doing it is at manipulating a photo image. Usually a gigantic color blotch is added on the hull.

I always figure they are trying to conceal damage.

Re: Blacking out registration numbers

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2020 6:04 pm
by Tom Hemphill
I agree, the practice of obscuring your motor vehicle or boat registration numbers seems pointless. That being said, people may want to make it more difficult for entities like Google to complete the dossiers they are assembling on us.

Re: Blacking out registration numbers

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2020 8:20 pm
by biggiefl
Still confused on the motive/benefit of doing so. Google has online a video of my house as they drive down my street. What benefit does blocking your registration or license plate numbers accomplish? Can someone explain to me what the benefit is please?

Re: Blacking out registration numbers

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2020 9:27 pm
by Joe 15 SS LTD
With the numbers one could check where the boat may reside if they have access to a government data base , and then could stop by and steal the boat or equipment.

Re: Blacking out registration numbers

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2020 8:54 am
by biggiefl
That makes sense but not sure how many people outside of the Police or DMV would be able to access that info.however. I believe that DMV could probably search Boston Whaler in a certain area and come up with who owns what and where. At least they did in Gone in 60 seconds. I would also believe that if a boat was stolen, it would be fairly easy to find out what employee ran the registration numbers recently as well.

Re: Blacking out registration numbers

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2020 1:55 pm
by Dave Johnston
I've always wondered as well, glad i'm not the only one.

The only other thing I can think of is if people are trying to protect their online identity and the registration could be linked somehow.

who knows.

Re: Blacking out registration numbers

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2020 2:00 pm
by padrefigure
Or it's a scam and they don't want to tip their hand by revealing the true owner's identity?

Re: Blacking out registration numbers

Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2020 6:37 am
by Don SSDD
With all the hacking of databases that happens, the likelihood your registration number or plate number can be found by some thief is probable.

Police departments have had license plate scanners for years, they can scan parked cars and all traffic looking for stolen plates etc. That data can at some point get stolen.

The amount of data available on line keeps growing, try doing a google search on your screen name some time. You may be surprised what shows up. If you use your boat in a high traffic area, maybe your boat registration number has been scanned at some point and will show up in a search.