I was driving back to work from my lunch break and had a guy in modded MS3 pass me and his passenger then proceeded to hang out the window at ~50mph then start taking pictures of my car... This wouldn't have bothered me nearly so much if it didn't appear like the guy was mostly pointed right at my license plate. Needless to say I tried to position myself to avoid them.

Any one else have this happen to them or heard of it?

 

It's a real life gone in 60 seconds. I would hide her until the move on... ~__~

 

Yes this has happened to me in Va Beach my girlfriend was like the people next to us are taking pictures i was like we in a super car get used to it Mazda boys just showing you some love

 

Well I had a guy ask me about taking a video and then found out there is this "spotted in DC" group on facebook they had posted it too.

 

Rare car, they were probably out taking photos and had camera with them already. Saw an opportunity to get a nice rolling shot of an rx7.
They weren't shooting your license plate.

 

I do have one question though. Are you worried someone will see your license plate? I mean I could drive around all day writing down the license plate of every car I see... What's that going to accomplish? Why would a picture of your plate be any worse than if someone drove by and wrote the plate number down along with the make, model and color?

 

I don't think anything malicious either.

Just be weary to make sure no ones following you home.

 

THIS

I was once at a light, and noticed the "kids" that were driving the car behind me, taking cell pictures of the back of my RX-7 (which honestly, is not all that LOL)

Doesn't bother me, in fact, I think it was kind of cool

 

Same. I was in a drive through and the car ahead of me watched pull behind them. This resulted in some not so sneaky cell phone angles to get pictures of my car. She could of just asked lol.

 

So when the angle of the camera is such that my plate will be directly in the center and otherwise so low most of the picture will be road and my bumper they're not taking a picture of my plate? Ok.

As to being concerned about it if the focus had not been on my plate it would not have been suspicious. Also, just because one can doesn't mean one should. Just as just because it is possibly benign doesn't mean it is.

Thanks for letting me know about the spotted in DC though.

 

Based on what you are describing, sounds like these kids were trying to take rig shots without a rig... from a low angle up.

A lot of the times, these "Spotted" Pics will show up in some random group chat whether its on the forums or any other sort of social media.

Having said all of that, always being weary and alert works. I don't think there is enough information they can pull out of just a license plate #, at least not here in CT there isn't enough.

 

Are you felling me this "spotted " thing is spreading? It's common in Maine for the Subaru people to spot any other Subaru,and I mean any...being one of the most common cars in New England it annoys the hell out of me when people do this.

 

It's exactly what was going on. Low angle photography rolling shot. I do this stuff all the time for my car club. I even shot a cop car Thursday night. Now I have to download the pic and post it. I even got his Tag in the photo.

Would it have made you feel better if it was an older guy in a $90k Range Rover and a $6k camera set up?
Cop didn't seem to have a problem. I was shooting 2 RX-7's like that right in front of him too.

I probably know a dozen people who drive with Dash cams. Every motorcycle I see has a cam going. Recording every persons license plate that's in front of them and it's wide angle enough to grab the ones in each lane next to them. I don't get this paranoia of being recorded in public.

You are constantly being recorded in every store parking lot, Inside the store, every ATM you go to, every highway you are on, parking garage you go in etc.

 

 

It seems people don’t know how to read or their vested interest requires them to be obtuse on purpose.

The vehicle was not beside or at some acute angle in front of mine. They were in front of my car, in the next lane, with the passenger hanging a large portion of his body out the window and taking pictures specifically of my license plate with a camera equipped with a lens that appeared larger than your run of the mill lens.

If someone does not understand the difference between this and incidental photography for the purpose of theft deterrence, safety, or other easily understood purposes then there is little I can do for you besides recommending looking up non sequitur fallacy.

All of this being said, despite being in a public domain the “photographers” could easily be considered bad actors and not simply for traffic reasons. This is likely why dispatch sent a car after them when I called it in. There are other reasons why doing that on the particular road I was on was a bad idea.

In short, if you don’t have consent, it is never a good idea to just start taking pictures of people which is why, even in public domains, consent forms and other good practices are considered good practice. And those who do not follow them end up getting harassed themselves, sued, jailed, or even end up in Leavenworth. Unfortunately, people seem to think that anything goes in “public” areas which leads to this crap in the first place.

 

It's ok, we know you have no clue what was happening. You can't tell a lens size to determine its focal length. Pro lenses with fast Apertures are large.
He was hanging out the window because it's a wide angle lens and he is trying to get your entire car and not the side of his.

If you were scared and called the cops of course they are going to dispatch someone to investigate. If he was doing something unsafe and he was a distraction to other drivers then he could probably get a warning and maybe a citation.

As far as the law goes; well you got that wrong as well. You have no expectation of privacy in the public domain. People are allowed to take photographs and even video. What he may have been doing hanging out a window is frowned upon for safety reasons. Doesnt matter about the camera. Still you have to explain how taking a photo of your license plate makes any sense. What is gained by taking a photo verses just writing down the number? Let reason and logic be your guide.

Because he was trying to get a rolling shot of your car! I'm sorry you are such a paranoid person. It's sad that it made you so uncomfortable he wanted pictures of your car and was overt about it.

You don't need a "Press Pass" to take a damn photo in public. If you needed a release then how does the news constantly show video of people from helicopters including people on the highway? Do they land and get everyone to sign a release? You don't need to understand what someone is doing for them to have the right to do it.

So explain to us about the incidental, theft and safety photography. It's a peculiar take on what you think is lawful and what isn't.

I find your comments amusing. "Consent forms and other good practices are considered good practice." You really think people are going to jail because they took a picture of someone in public without a consent form? You grow up behind the iron curtain? What's going on here?

Tell us more; you seem to have an interesting take on what the law says...
BTW, just out of curiosity. How old are you?

 

Think evasive maneuvers are called for

 

Right, the guy that was there doesn't know what happened and the person who wasn't and continually makes (wrong) assumptions about the what happened does. As to the legality issue, I recommend you Google it for yourself as there are definite areas (3 obvious ones) where even publicly obtained photos and footage are not legal, as is evidenced by the lawsuits pertaining to such.

As to the rolling shot, that only flies if he's trying to take a shot of my car and not my plate. I think this has been made abundantly clear and I am unsure of why you are having issues with it. As to paranoid and/or scared. Try concerned and suspicious. And while I don't need to know what they are doing for them to do it I also don't need to know to understand that the methods and execution leaves questions best handled by the police.

That you continually use fallacious arguments (straw man, non sequiter, red herring, etc.) I can only assume you're either trolling or emotionally invested in this enough to feel the need to make up your own explanation which does not follow from the facts at all. I won't bother asking your age.

 

If you are not looking thru the viewfinder you have no reasonable assumption they are shooting your plate. It's not even the logical assumption because there is no benefit to taking a photo of someone's plate. Even if they were its much easier to follow you and write it down from behind. Maybe even shoot it thru the windshield, back glass? I mean you may not even have noticed that right? What's the point of being overt if your intentions are just ill will?

Even still what benefit is recording your tag number? You still haven't explained that. I see you have a difficult time with logic and reason. You have no experience is such matters so you being there has no bearing on what you think they were doing. I'm not the only one who explained it to you but you are quite stubborn. We gave you the most logical explanimation because yours has no merit. Someone that shoots automobiles and has for years is telling you what happened. If you were so sure why come here asking for an explanation? You just wanted validation? Now you just feel stupid for calling the cops over basically nothing?

At least if you were to make an assumption you may as well make one that has a reasonable explanation.

Guy driving nice car... Kids get ahead of him and leans out window to take photo... yeah.

It's still NOT illegal to take photos of people in public even if they don't want you to. How do you think Paparazzi make their living?

Are people watching you that you have noticed? Being followed? Believe they are trying to harm you? Do you work for the government? Maybe foreign government agents that may want the information you have? They don't want you to vote for Bernie?

 

You aren't able to tell when someone is looking at you or over your shoulder? Women not able to tell when someone is staring at their chest or their eyes? Really? Because they certainly aren't looking through the other persons eyes.

Who said they were kids? Those assumptions keep catching up with you. Just as your unfounded assertions do.

The oddity of the situation is not lost on me. I'm sure you noticed the title of the thread. Ironically you yourself have proposed a variety of possible reasons of varying plausibility. But the point I'd like to make is this: you don't know and in general have been shown to be wrong of a variety of areas within this thread. I have not gone into the minutiae of the situation, all of your false assertions/fallacies/misconceptions, my qualifications, etc. Nor do I intend to. This thread was meant to relate what happened and ask others if it had happened to them or if they had heard of such things. Some people were quite helpful and I appreciate it. However, I am tired of you shitting up my thread, so kindly stop.

 

Your thread is a farce. You obviously have it all figured out. Keep up the good work.

 

Come on guys, just shake hands ! You are BOTH right, in that NEITHER of you is wrong !