What information are you giving away?

[David]

[Bob]

From left to right, starting at kids I can re-interpret that:
My kids are not going to be easy to subdue - they are competitive
I am a crazy Mofo who does dangerous things
I will defend the child with my life
My husband is a Delta operator
The kids are smart, which will be a problem
The dog will make noise when I try to break in
I'll very probably get shot trying to break in after the dog barks. Maybe by him, possibly the wife.

The main thing that says take advantage of me is the California plate....

[David]

The main thing that says take advantage of me is the California plate....

[Mac66]

I worked as a private investigator for several years, mostly doing insurance/worker's comp fraud cases but other stuff as well. One of the things we always did was note the stickers on our subject's cars. We did a lot of surveillance and stickers etc helped us figure out what the subject was into, clubs, hobbies, interests etc. If you were doing a worker's comp case and the subject had a skiing resort sticker or a snowmobile or ATV, motorcycle sticker you could pretty much figure out what he/she were doing in their spare time. Invariably you caught them doing something having to do with their hobbies/interest when they claimed they couldn't walk or do something strenuous. The license plate frame told us approx where they lived (most people buy cars from a dealer close to home. Of course checking their garbage told us a lot as well.

[Bmyers]

I think Bob hit the nail on the head.

[ratf51]

I think that David brings up a valid point for consideration. I came to this conclusion several years ago-- people give away too much personal information far too easily.

[aerynsun]

I think that David brings up a valid point for consideration. I came to this conclusion several years ago-- people give away too much personal information far too easily.

Agree.

Think about all the info people put on line about themselves. And how it is coming back to bite them in their job.
People are getting fired for their comments on twitter and other social media platforms.

I don't use social media and am retired so I can't be fired. But, I still don't like to be searched for on line. Even on forums such as this I pick a screen name for each forum so that I can't be traced from forum to forum.

[Bob]

I don't disagree that it may inform a bad guy. But I can't say whether it attracts or deters. This is a kind of anecdotal thing. I don't think I have ever seen evidence of someone saying "I followed them because of the gun sticker" because I knew there would be firearms.

Is it possible? Yes
Is it probable, I'm sure it has happened.

But just like owning a gun - did it cause more owner inflicted woulds or prevent intruders from injuring? Hard to tell. Yes - generally not advertising yourself is a good thing.

And what is out there online about you is infinite to a real hacker. I'd say vacation picks while away on Facebook are worse than anything on your car.