NOT a GUN post! Google and Facebook have now made it possible to find photos of firearms by simply typing a serial number into the search box. Earlier today, the automotive website Jalopnik published a story showing how license plate numbers are evidently scanned using optical character recognition (OCR) on Google images, allowing them to be searchable using text queries. Using the OCR hypothesis, TFB wondered if this image data mining technique might be able to be used to search for firearm serial numbers. Using images posted previously on TFB with serial numbers displayed on firearms, we tested the serial number search technique. As you can see from the results below, firearm serial numbers are in fact part of this apparent large-scale data mining operation by companies like Google and Facebook. NOTICE: Facebook And Google Indexing Your Firearm Serial Numbers
I wonder who is going to expose their serial numbers on line to be harvested and put into a searchable data base.
Anytime I've shared a photo of a firearm the S/N is always removed. I wipe that area of all color, then use the eyedropper tool to select the color of the surrounding area and then fill in.
I only posted Picts of the Custom AR-10 with the Serial Number facing away from the camera, just for this sort of thing... and I usually do NOT Post Picts of FireArms, in the first place...Made one exception for the AR-10...
Im working part time in an auto parts store. We can enter the plate or vin and get the correct vehicle info year make sub model, Have no idea where they get the info.
It’s like sending a naked picture of yourself to someone online. Why the hell would you do it? I want my guns to be a surprise to EVERYONE.
