Why cover plates?

Why do I often see motorcycles photo taken with the
license plate covered? Is there any harm in showing
the numbers on the internet?

 

That depends on who else may have already seen the number, and what it
was doing at the time.

Al Moore
DoD 734

 

Probably for the same reason they remove the mirrors, it makes for a
better photograph.

 

It isn't terribly hard to run a license plate, giving a potential
thief/asshole/etc . . . access to your physical address.

 

entropy_magnet () wrote:
: On Wed, 2 Nov 2005 03:37:36 +0000 (UTC), Caerus wrote:
:
: > Why do I often see motorcycles photo taken with the
: > license plate covered? Is there any harm in showing
: > the numbers on the internet?
:
: It isn't terribly hard to run a license plate, giving a potential
: thief/asshole/etc . . . access to your physical address.

Given that, what about the thousands on the street that don't
have their license covered; wouldn't they be at risk too. I'm
just asking because someone started this and I really don't know
the reason why they cover the plates numbers.

 

For that matter - notice car and motorcycle commercials on TV - they
have the license number
obscured. Sometimes it's not covered, just blacked out.

I wonder why. I mean, if they block off a section of road to shoot a
commercial (or movie)
they don't need *real* license plates on the vehicle. Why not just put
a cardboard placard
with the logo of the car company or somesuch?

 

I've noticed that too. Sometimes it's really obvious, it looks like
someone has taken a real license plate and spray-painted it flat
black.

For ads for new cars the cars might not even have been street-legal
when the ad was filmed. But also I think they don't want to make the
car look like it belongs to someone or came from some state in
particular. Maybe they think trying to read the license plate will be
distracting.

They don't want to put a cardboard logo there because it looks phoney,
like a new car on a dealer's lot, and that's not what you're supposed
to think, you're supposed to think this car belongs to some lucky
person who's now enjoying it so you'll want one too.

On EBay and Craigslist I sometimes see licenses fogged out or
pixellated in photos. I think entropy_magnet had the right idea.
People must be afraid that someone will look them up and come over and
steal the bike. I can't think of any better reason.

 

Exactly! They want you looking at and thinking about the vehicle rather
than the license plate, what state its from, or anything else. That is
why, for the advertisers, disguising the plates makes for better images.

<snip>

 

There were some commercials for toyota or nissan where the vehicle has plate
numbers that were BSA model designations. I have no idea if it was
intentional or accidental

 

Then why not remove the license plate, frame and everything and allow
the car to go 'nekkid'?
I find it very dsitracting that they are concealing a 'real' license
plate (I"ve checked with stop-frame
and you can tell that there are some numbers there).

This is curiouser and curiouser...

 

I think an empty license plate frame, or worse, one with some kind of
decoration, would be conspicuous. A real plate painted black is
probably less noticeable.

They don't expect people to do that. 8^) It's amazing what you can
learn about stunts, action sequences, etc. by looking at them
frame-by-frame.

 

Some of these thieves are stupider than you can imagine.
Case in point..
A neighbor lost her wallet and it was picked up by one of these cretins.
Three days later her home was burglarized. The clown was caught
immediately in a fencing sting and her lost wallet was found on him.

Question:
Why did this idiot need her address from the wallet to choose her house?
Looking for pin numbers or the like? No, he essentially took a bunch
of crap. It makes no sense at all. He passed up 10,000 homes to get to
hers simply because he had her address in his pocket.

I would cover up my license plate.

Roadweanie

 

Huh? I real one painted black is LESS conspicous than a black (or
car-colored) cardboard
insert. I do not think so.

Well, duh. The point it that I have ascertained that they are using a
*real* license plate but
obscuring it ... the issue is: what is the point?

(especially since CGI has gotten to the point that they could make up
any license they want
and superimpose it post-production.

 

Here's another reason for plate covers. The city of Cranston, RI has just
started using photo radar with automatically-generated tickets mailed to the
registered vehicle owner for speed limit enforcement. The political
brouhaha is just beginning, meanwhile the mayor is sitting back and letting
the automated system pour in the "tax" revenue.

 

They're hoping you don't notice. An empty frame draws your eye, as
does a cardboard insert with some logo art on it. Anyway that's my
guess. You went and noticed so the effect was spoiled. From now on
you'll be looking for it. Of course that wasn't their intention.

Maybe they could make up a fake license plate from some non-existant
state. Then you'd be saying 'Hey, why do they use a fake state?' But
that's not the point. You're supposed to look at the CAR, dummy! 8^)

 

Well, when the show the front of a car sans license plate or frame that
doesn't jump out that much,
why would the back of a car without plate or frame jump out?

Or how about a Fed gov't plate? or how about no plate at all?

Wrong! THEY'RE supposed to get me to look at the car, the burden is on
them to sell me,
not on me to buy (or even watch - as a matter of fact I have trained my
bladder to be in sync
with commercial breaks

 

Right on!