Ever wondered who drives a particular car?

This is a little disturbing - having been the victim of car cloning I know the inconvenience of receiving many speeding and parking fines which I did not deserve.

This is nothing more than a catalogue of vehicles ready for any would be car thief / ringer to match up a vehicle they have "acquired" and use a legitimate plate to conceal the stolen identity of the vehicle.

This site makes it very easy to clone the credentials of many many high value vehicles in the local area. This is a tool which could potentially be used for criminal activity.

The site allows you to search cars by make and model - it could not be easier to seek out the information one would need to clone a car.

This "social networking" site has been ill considered and I would love to investigate the legal implications of this venture.

Google have gone to the trouble of hand editing the registration plate out of every one of their street view photographs - surely a very time consuming and costly task. Would this have been done if there were no risk to the owner of the vehicle by having their identity and cars registration revealed ?

I thank you for your comment and I am happy to address your concerns.

One of the many features of PlateWave, is that it actually protects members in the event their vehicle is ever cloned by criminals.

With 30 years experience in the vehicle funding industry, I am possibly more aware than many of the extent of this problem.

During the early development, one of our associates told us of his experiences of having his car ‘cloned’. He had a red Jeep, in Macclesfield. But he was receiving parking tickets for a Black Jeep in London on the same registration number. He knew he had not been in London, and so, unwisely he ignored the tickets. When the bailiffs arrived to seize his car he had major problems proving that his was not the car fined in London.

If he had been a member of Platewave, as soon as he received the first wrong ticket he could have provided photographic evidence that his car was significantly different from the cloned version.

Another example of how membership of Platewave helps to protect against this crime would be the actual 'wave' system. If I waved at your car when I was in London, and you were in Alderley, you would immediately be alerted to a problem.

Most cloners are not so particular to match cars exactly. With Platewave, a photograph provided by the member would show details like wheels, colour, extras, general condition etc. This would make it very easy to prove the difference between the original and the clone.

Other than immediately joining Platewave and claiming your plate, I cannot think of any other way to protect yourself from your vehicle being cloned.

PlateWave will also protect innocent buyers and sellers of cars. Before you complete on a transaction, check the photo on PlateWave. If the photo and the car you are being offered do not match, someone is trying to sell a clone.

On the second point of Google Streetview. Google have to edit photos of registration numbers for very obvious reasons. If they take a picture of a house at 3.00pm with a car outside, which the husband of the house recognises as his wife’s boyfriends car, you can imagine the law suits that would follow. The risk to the vehicle or house owner if Google were allowed to associate vehicles to individual properties is real. This is precisely why we don't do this. There are privacy issues with photographs which associate people or property with vehicles, or which can prove when and where a vehicle was at any given time.

A picture of a car in a street is entirely in the public domain, and reveals no more than any passer by could normally observe. I believe this is the opinion of a Judge last week when Google were given authority to continue with their project.

Being able to search for make and model is standard on many car sales sites, an example being Autotrader, with over 350,000 vehicles per 2 weeks listed.

I assure you the PlateWave concept has been thoroughly thought out and I am very proud to say that it is the safest social networking site for its members in existence today, anywhere. Twitter is dangerous because users twitter about going to the shops, therefore advertising to millions that their house is now empty!

To expose how dangerous it is, there is a new website called http://www.pleaserobme.com which publishes a list of empty houses at any given time, as identified by use of information contained in Twitters.
It would be impossible for a young girl to be 'groomed' etc.on PlateWave as tends to happen on Facebook and MySpace rather too often.

It amazes me that supposedly security conscious people can have very distinctive vehicles, with very distinctive plates, whilst maintaining Facebook profiles publishing to the world highly personal pictures of their house, family, young children. They list of all their friends, and discuss when they are going to leave their house empty while they go to a function or on holiday. We don't allow more than 2 personal photo's.

Members information is limited to: First name, county, make of car and registration number. They can also add sales blurb to promote their business and list their previous cars. Even taking into account how clever some criminal gangs are today, I really think they would struggle to use such limited information.

Please be assured PlateWave places a greater value on our members privacy and safety than any possible financial gain from compromising these issues. I hope I have answered your concerns to your satisfaction, but if you have any other queries at all concerning the site, I am happy to make myself available at any time.

I would also like to add that we do offer the option of ‘hiding’ your car and plate as part of the sign up process. Every registration has a profile page, but any member can tick the ‘hide my car’ button.

Thank you for your interest in PlateWave. Please go on and have a look around.

If a car has been cloned and some idiot has cloned a black car and is driving round in a red one, a photo on your site is no more convincing than showing the police the vehicle sat on your drive. The police need your VIN to check its the correct car and you cannot seriously advocate publishing a photo of your VIN along with your reg and car make model on a site for all to see. That is the only number that will identify your vehicle. A photo will not prove anything other than the fact you have access to a camera.

I did receive a ticket from a place I had never visited when Platewave did not exist and I was able to prove it was not my car.

You write and I quote "Other than immediately joining Platewave and claiming your plate, I cannot think of any other way to protect yourself from your vehicle being cloned." - that sounds like the claim an alarm sales man makes.

You are quite correct -- an image of a car recorded from the street is within the public domain. I don't dispute this - Google edit out all car registrations not just those sat on a drive way, the privacy of Google street view is not in question here.

The common option you fail to address when exposing the security flaws in Facebook and Twitter are both taken care of with privacy settings. I didn't have to create a twitter account or a facebook account to stop someone else with my name taking a page and publishing personal information. Further more as your site points out - your name is not unique. Your car registration is (or at least should be)
Your site presents this very unique identification method of a vehicle and archives it in a searchable database. I have to register and give you my details in order to then hide my vehicle which I did not opt in to register with you to begin with.

Vehicles on your site which have been snapped at random on the streets of Alderley and have not opted in for you to take their photo - you instead rely on them first knowing about your site, then knowing that you can hide the vehicle by registering. You work on the presumption that these people will want to divulge their identity and other details in order to hide their vehicle and plate. This opens another question - what are you doing with the data you record?

I have both facebook and twitter - I control what info goes on there - my address is on neither - I protect the data I wish to conceal and better yet - I don't publish it. Critically with both I opted in to both.

For all the flaws you point out in Facebook - it seems this site is another attempt to grab some of the limelight that social media attracts. Facebook works because the concept was novel and its security is developed by some of the best in the industry.

Given the area you're basing your operation in it doesn't take a genius to work out that many of the vehicles you will list and photograph belong to some of the highest net-worth people in the country. You are compiling a who's who catalogue of some very expensive assets. You should allow people to sign up and list their car if they wish to - rather than a register first, opt out second strategy. I am under no doubt this approach ensures you have a credible number of plates on the database that would make the site worthwhile searching.

I am still not convinced that this has been properly thought through and just like the concern when people believed they had to opt out of having their mobile phone numbers made available to direct marketing directories I fear a backlash against the opt out policy on your site pretty much relies upon.

An irresponsible site like please rob me.com combined with a car identified by its make/model and registration would allow someone to find out where a car is parked on a regular basis - DVLA checks which you can pay for enable an individual to attain this information. They could go a step further and without much trouble, cross reference one database against another and find out when your home is empty and relieve you of the vehicle. Plate wave would then serve as nothing more than a souvenir photo collection of the car which you now no longer own.

I'm sorry for the negativity given the spirit of your new venture but I am seriously concerned by what I believe is another ill considered attempt at yet another social media portal. Having discussed this with friends at length some of whom are locals my opinion is no more unique than the concept your site is based on.

I have to agree with James.

This makes it so easy to clone a car that, having never even thought about stealing a car, I could quite easily do it and clone another car so that I could sell my "newly-acquired" automobile.

The difference between social sites such as Facebook is that you can hide as much or as little of your public identity as you want and Facebook and the like still come with a catalogue of risks to the user. Platewave may seem like a great idea but it is utopian in many ways and brings many more risks than it does benefits.

Additionally, the type of people that would sign up for this are likely to be the older generation adopting the internet as a means to have a bit of fun with little awareness of risks. I look at my Mum and my friends' Mums on Facebook who create their profiles and make them public with total ignorance.

I am concerned that I will have to sign up with a website to opt out of having my car and number plate published without my permission. I understand that in the UK data protection law allows the taking of photographs in public places without permission. However I don’t believe that this applies to pictures taken for commercial purposes, for which notification should be made. I trust that the website will not be promoted for advertising as this might be considered as a commercial enterprise.

I appreciate that there is a difficult Privacy argument when car number plates are published on a photograph of a general street scene but it is an entirely different matter when the car is deliberately targeted.

Surely, the simple answer is to allow people to opt in to the website, much like the other social networking sites. If somebody wishes to be involved, they could register their own number plate and upload their own photograph

In answer to the three comments above,

1) James, I appreciate you are security conscious and feel protected by the foolproof security of Facebook and Twitter. However, even with the tightest security settings, it is still possible for a total stranger to see your profile, and see all recent posts.

A picture of your car is not on our site, even though every number, including yours, has its own blank profile page. You would have to opt in to activate your profile and choose whether or not to provide a photograph of your car, and possibly up to 2 personal photo’s.

2) Anthony. If you really want to find a car to clone, just look out of the window and pick the first one you fancy. It is much easier than trawling through the hundreds of web sites with car pictures. If you must do it the hard way, try http://www.flickr.com they have over a million of them. Much more choice than Autotrader with only 350,000 to chose from. But the great thing about Autotrader is that it tells you exactly how far away the car is located. Great for car thieves. Obviously, being aware of these sites glaring security flaws, we have taken steps to ensure PlateWave is totally safe for members.

3) Geoff, if I type your name and Alderley Edge as the location in to a particular online directory I can see your full name, address, postcode, home telephone number, age and occupation. You don’t have to join this directory. I think a fraudster could do more with that information than they ever could with My name is Geoff and the number on my car is xxxxxxx on a claimed profile. On an unclaimed one it would reveal absolutely nothing.

If you go to the Platewave site and enter your number. You will see a blank profile page with a number at the top. There is no other information. I find it difficult to believe that you would feel threatened by someone publishing the fact that registration number A123 ABC was once issued, and maybe, maybe not, someone, somewhere has it on their car.

PlateWave displays photographs of vehicles parked in the public domain, provided by either members of the public, or the registered vehicle owners.

Members of the public have to ‘claim their plate’ (opt in if you prefer) by providing Name, County and email address. Their surname will never appear in public.

We do not ask for and therefore do not have any record of, address, postcode, date of birth or telephone number.

PlateWave are fully aware of the relevant privacy laws and always operate within the established guidelines.

If you like cars and enjoy talking sensibly to other owners, join Platewave.

I repeat, PlateWave.com is the safest social network site for its members in the world.

Hi,

How do I prove that the car number plate is mine, or more to the point how do I stop other people claiming my car is theirs? Could I put the flash car down the roads number plate in and pretend its mine? I know the address it is parked at and the plate. (ps not that I would!)

If I did hide my car from view would the site still be of benefit? Would anyone be able to find me? Or would it really work better in full view?

I see a few pictures of the cars on the site which show a little of the background, as we all know the area well would the site not prove a persons whereabouts if pictured near a house (be it their own or not) would people find their partners cars on the site, claim them then look at the pictures to see if they were pictured somewhere they shouldn't.

Hi,

I agree with Marcus on this one. Criminals do use the internet to find cars to clone cars and will possibly even use PlateWave but if they are not using PlateWave they will just use Autotrader or some other site. I do agree that it makes it easier than say using Autotrader but its certainly not going to increase car cloning. Gumtree for example is a hive of criminality but it doesn't mean the site shouldn't exist.

Some very good comments above, I would like to see this type of website banned and not advertised on our site.

Hello Lisa, you have raised some valid points.

People pretending to be something they are not is a big problem on the internet.

Due to the unique nature of registration numbers, there can only be one of each, and therefore there can only be one owner.

Should anyone falsely claim the profile of a plate which is not theirs, PlateWave have procedures in place to rectify this within minutes of it being brought to our attention.

For this reason, we would strongly recommend firstly that you check on the site that no one else has claimed your plate, and then register to ensure that no one can at any time in the future.

When you change your car, you can move your profile easily to your new number.

There really is no reason to hide your plate or profile once registered, it is just an option we offer. Many people will register just to claim their plate and not upload any personal details or photos. Just brief details of the vehicle. In which case there is nothing to be seen, and therefore little point in hiding it. However, once your number has a profile, you would benefit from all the features of the site, messaging etc, if you ever chose to participate.

Registration is easy and entirely FREE.

With regard to your point about people being where they should not be.

Pictures placed on Platewave by spotters are not date specific. Many of the pictures on the site were taken several years ago. Google Street View have to block registration numbers because they record the time and date a particular photograph was taken. We have no such records.

On the subject of older pictures, PlateWave's mission is to build a photographic record of every vehicle ever registered in the UK, and as such is about so much more than pictures of new ‘flash’ cars. We want pictures of cars, vans, trucks and motor bikes. Any vehicle with a registration number. We are taking the very long term view that new cars today are the classics of tomorrow.

Do any local residents have pictures of their grandparent’s or parents cars?

A very high percentage of Rolls Royce, Bentley etc. that were ever built are still in existence today. Somewhere in the world. It is quite possible a good number of them were once owned by local residents. Would you like to know where they are now?

If anyone has older pictures of cars, and knows the registration numbers, please upload them and claim the plate as a previous owner. If those cars are still in existence today, as classics, the present owners would love to see what the car looked like 20 or 50 years ago.

Again thank you for your questions. Keep them coming.

Thank you for answering our questions Marcus, all the best with your new venture x

Marcus wrote: “How else do you contact someone who you see all the time around the village, live very close to, have probably spoken to at some time but you don't know their name? You cannot phone, email or write.

You could just try the old fashioned, introduce yourself and ask them their name...

This sounds like a good way to tell people to slow down when they have sped in excess of 50 MPH down a 30MPH road.

I could reel off at least 6 car regs that do this on a daily basis down our road. I'll take a look at this website and see whether I can utilise it's very limited benefits.