Online display of car reg plates

Cianos

Hey,
Hoping to get a bit of help with this. I have an idea for a small website and part of it would involve displaying and categorising entries on the website according to car registration plates.

So for example, each photo with a car in it would be tagged with the cars reg plate so it's easily searched and found later.

This would largely be done without the car owners consent. Are there any legal complications with doing something like this?

It would be possible to do it in such a way that the database is searchable using the reg plates, but the plates on the actual photographs could be blurred out.

Any tips would be appreciated

Reloc8

What is the purpose of the website ?

Cianos

To expose and document bad parking. I realise it could be a bit of a grey area to catalogue it in this way hence my asking here. My thoughts are that while it's simply taking photographs of cars in public places, associating the reg in that context could imply defamation.

Reloc8

like this ?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055438379

Cianos

Reloc8 wrote: »

?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055438379

That thread was an inspiration

Most pictures there do have reg plates still legible. The difference between what I would be doing would be that the database would be searchable by reg, so there'd be a purposeful cataloguing of "offenders".

Also I don't know if there would be complications with using the authorities "cataloguing system" in a public way.

The subject of the entire website would be to highlight bad parking so putting someones car on there really is to defame/shame the driver. The thread you linked is only one thread out of many thousands on quite a big site so there's a contextual difference. It's at least a lot less obvious or on the surface. I can imagine someone being a bit more annoyed about having their car on a site dedicated to bad parking than having their car appear in that thread.

The Muppet

Cianos wrote: »

That thread was an inspiration

Most pictures there do have reg plates still legible. The difference between what I would be doing would be that the database would be searchable by reg, so there'd be a purposeful cataloguing of "offenders".

Also I don't know if there would be complications with using the authorities "cataloguing system" in a public way.

The subject of the entire website would be to highlight bad parking so putting someones car on there really is to defame/shame the driver. The thread you linked is only one thread out of many thousands on quite a big site so there's a contextual difference. It's at least a lot less obvious or on the surface. I can imagine someone being a bit more annoyed about having their car on a site dedicated to bad parking than having their car appear in that thread.

How are you going to know to remove a car from you database when it has been sold?

Cianos

The Muppet wrote: »

How are you going to know to remove a car from you database when it has been sold?

Very good point, I didn't think of that. fwiw, the database itself is more a mechanism for the drivers themselves to find the photo of their own car rather than random users type in reg plates to see if there's a photo associated.

The Muppet

Cianos wrote: »

Very good point, I didn't think of that. fwiw, the database itself is more a mechanism for the drivers themselves to find the photo of their own car rather than random users type in reg plates to see if there's a photo associated.

Great I'll be able to check up on herselfs parking, Can I call you as a witness when the divorce case comes up?

CiniO

The Muppet wrote: »

How are you going to know to remove a car from you database when it has been sold?

By browing the database on motortax website.
You get updates of every vehicle ownership change.

slimjimmc

CiniO wrote: »

By browing the database on motortax website.
You get updates of every vehicle ownership change.

You have to type in the registration every time to run a search. Not really practical for routinely checking 100s or 1000s of registrations.

Mike 1972

How would it be defamation if the stuff was all true

source

Once the car is in a public place there's no expectancy of privacy. Anything in a public place can be photographed without permission of the owner. The image is then the property of the photographer to do with as they please.

I have a blog of bad parking images, but unfortunately this website won't let me link it as it's called sh*te parking.


http://www.digitalrights.ie/2006/05/09/photographers-rights/

The only issue I can see with your plan, is the creation of a database of car registration numbers.

CiniO

slimjimmc wrote: »

You have to type in the registration every time to run a search. Not really practical for routinely checking 100s or 1000s of registrations.

If you do it yourself - probably not.
If it's done by script from your website - much better.

I can't see the reason, why OP's proposed website couldn't do daily checks on motortax website, of all reg plates that are on Op's website database.

Paulw

Mike 1972 wrote: »

How would it be defamation if the stuff was all true

Possibly the owner of the car could claim defamation, if he/she wasn't the one who parked the car.

What if a car is shared by husband/wife/son/daughter, etc?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Cianos wrote: »

so putting someones car on there really is to defame/shame the driver...

I'll tell you what - if you put my car there, with your stated aim to "defame", I'd take action against you. Who are you to decide on the rights or wrongs of my parking or of the circumstances involved? Leave that to the authorities and let them fine me if I have done anything wrong. (Never had a fine or ticket in my 40+ years of driving BTW).

seamus

Paulw wrote: »

Possibly the owner of the car could claim defamation, if he/she wasn't the one who parked the car.

What if a car is shared by husband/wife/son/daughter, etc?

Simply posting an image without any comment isn't really an issue in defamation terms because the publisher is making no claims, simply publishing what they saw. Though the context would have to be clear. A picture of a car is insufficient, the picture would need to contain enough detail for the viewer to make their own assessment of the person's parking.

Gut feeling is that pictures are OK, searchable is not. By making it searchable, you are compiling data on people without their knowledge which would be in contravention of the data protection act.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

CiniO wrote: »

By browing the database on motortax website.
You get updates of every vehicle ownership change.

Care to give a link to this database, as I thought you could not see ownership details?

Abelloid

Itzel Gray Salsa wrote: »

Care to give a link to this database, as I thought you could not see ownership details?

You can't, just dates of ownership changes.

https://www.motortax.ie/PSE/pseVehicleSearch.do

BrianD

Cianos wrote: »

That thread was an inspiration

Most pictures there do have reg plates still legible. The difference between what I would be doing would be that the database would be searchable by reg, so there'd be a purposeful cataloguing of "offenders".

Also I don't know if there would be complications with using the authorities "cataloguing system" in a public way.

The subject of the entire website would be to highlight bad parking so putting someones car on there really is to defame/shame the driver. The thread you linked is only one thread out of many thousands on quite a big site so there's a contextual difference. It's at least a lot less obvious or on the surface. I can imagine someone being a bit more annoyed about having their car on a site dedicated to bad parking than having their car appear in that thread.

We have law enforcement to do this with penalties. No need for you to do it.

There are umpteen reasons as to why a car may be illegally parked ranging from deliberate action to a breakdown and so on. The car could have been even been stolen, be driven by somebody other than the owner or perhaps the owner parked to be a good Samaritan out of range of your lens.

What about a car that gets sold on? Nothing disappears off the Internet quickly and the new owner gets the bad reputation or even the old owner gets the bad reputation of the new owner.

If you are going to embark on a web initiative your time might be better spending your time doing something else.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

+1