[DeTomaso] Why do people black out license plate numbers inphotos on Internet?

[The DeTomaso Registry Guy]

I've heard "protect my privacy", and "protect against theft" but have never
understood the risk. 

--Charles McCall

=   ===

This topic has broad applications and implications to/for/with the De Tomaso
Registry.  I will need to address several subtopics, best done individually.
I've given it a lot of thought, and I have had numerous conversations with
owners world-wide.  

I'll start with my summary:  

It is a very GOOD THING to have both the full VIN and the
license/registration plate (and past plates) in the registry.

Now on to the first topic (in no particular order),

Details:
To assuage the concern (of a small minority of owners) there are features of
the registry to address this type of 'privacy' concern.  I won't mention
them all but...

I do not let users search for a car by plate, or owner name.  This data is
considered "private".

However, I can, and do frequently, even daily, search by plate or owner
name. 
Why?  Because often I receive photos of some DeTomaso, perhaps taken at a
car show or just "on the road", and I then search for a match, and if found
(and the rest of the car details match) I can add the new photos to the
registry entry for that specific car.

It may or may not surprise you, but my WAG (Wild A$$ Guess) is than more
than half the photos added are done so by someone other than the current
owner.  Maybe it is a past owner, or another DeTomaso owner, or potential
buyers who smartly are collecting photos/data on cars during their
search/research, or even a random net surfer, with a question or two about
the De Tomaso marque.  

So, material (images and videos) and the documented history grows for each
car, and much of this is done without any effort by the current owner.  This
is a significant benefit to the owner.

Bottom line is that even a "shared" user will not be able to find the owner
or car using the DeTomaso Registry.  


In the next message I'll address "Theft" and "Cloning".

Sincerely,

Chuck Melton
(The DeTomaso Registry Guy)
www.DeTomasoRegistry.org

(I am being whisked away for some Father's day activities, I will continue
later.)