Orangutan said:
CanonFanBoy said:
It is just easier to find a local victim.
Guido probably isn't looking for the next big camera heist.
People's license plates are displayed all day long every single day and are probably recorded by dozens of different cameras on each trip to include parking garages, ATM's, the local Walmart security system, etc.
Getting bent over license plates is nuts. They are always exposed.
I'd be more worried about bank personnel and government agency employees than some hood on the street. That and your own family.
BTW: Your house floor plan is available at the local building inspector's office.
These are all true, but miss a basic point of safety: while there is no way to be 100% safe, the goal of safety is to put up impediments to crime that will slow down the criminal and make it more likely he (usually it's he) will be caught. Although you are correct that all of this is public information, it's also true that not all of it is easily searchable.
If I am your neighbor or friend all I would need is your name and age (not even your birth date and within a year or two in age), know you wife's or ex-wife's name and in a very few minutes I can have nearly your family tree. I can also pay $20 and find out your criminal record, etc... I can find all kinds of things that are freely searchable and cost nothing. Just a few tidbits from casual conversation and that's it.
Like I said before, photo's of a guy's home interior and what kind of locks are on the door is nothing. There are plenty of people close and not to close to a person who can find out all they need to know. Most people have no idea how to apply GPS coordinates and Jimmy the burglar isn't going to that extreme to plan his next drawer rifling session.
Here's the kicker: Most people don't care. They don't. The other thing is that recidivist criminals have an IQ (on average) 10 points lower than the population average of 100.
A guy coming after your camera gear and planning a home invasion to get it is not searching forums like this for your gear. He isn't looking for GPS information on photos, and he couldn't care less about which locks are on your doors.
Online security is one thing. Being paranoid is another. Saying a guy has the yearly equivalent of a middle class income hanging around his neck is an exaggeration.
One is far more likely to be robbed doing street photography or at the local park.
The thug isn't willing to work hard enough nor is he motivated enough to do all the cyber sleuthing sifting through forums and traveling all over the country to steal cameras. He most likely doesn't have access to license plate information either.
I live in an apartment complex the cops visit nearly every other day. There have been lots of arrests here, mostly drug related. Nobody has ever approached me about the gear hanging around my neck. Nobody has even asked about it. I've been stuck here for three years and never had a problem. Think I worry about some yahoo cruising obscure forums who may live a thousand miles away? Nope.
The point is that when it comes to forums... the chance for a crime being committed because of posts is slim and none.
Talking about cyber security is one thing. There is a point to that.
Worrying about license plates, gps coordinates, and addresses, floor plans, door locks, etc. is quite another. I can enter anyone's address into Google maps and get the gps coordinates. So what? I don't need to go through the door to get in the house. I don't need the fricking floor plan once inside. Why? Because even a doofus knows it is best to go in when you ain't home.
I've just got to wait outside for you to come out carrying $40,000 worth :
(very lower middle class yearly income for two people) of camera gear around your neck and rob you then.
Doh!
