[swamos]

All,

I have been made aware of this post on a Melbourne Car Club forum, and it makes for interesting reading.

Basically, they are saying that they have had members targeted because of what they have said on line about their modifications.

I would encourage everyone to read it and make up their own minds. I have no evidence of this happening to any MINI2ers yet, and I would find it unlikely that MINI2 owners would be targetted, but you never know.

It saddens me that the police have come to this. I don't know how they expect to keep the respect of the society, but anyway.... Just be careful everyone, we don't want to see no trouble in these here parts

[snoopy]

This does not surprise me at all. Have heard and seen the info posted on the net being used as a source of leads in all type of investigations.

The posting of car photos with out the licence plate blanked out is a risky business. Sure you might know it your friend’s car and you know the reg number. But this type of info and data is not know to all parties and once on the web can be collected and save for use at a future date. It is a bit like creating an on line profile of the person and car and when you put a year worth of post together you get a lot of detail.

[ianB]

Thought I'd have a read of that out of interest. Not sure what an epa is though. Is it like the British MOT, a certificate that the vehicle is fit (legal) for the road?

Two things sprung to mind when reading it:

Firstly, if your car is legal, why worry?

Secondly, if the Police use these sites for legal reasons, then do others use them for illegal reasons? That's more worrying.

ian

[jasemini]

Yep it goes on for sure,particularly when it comes to announcing runs and run locations online. I know that the Holden LS1 guys will only allow new members access to their forums by validating them in person when introduced by a current member at a function, they then get a username and password in flesh. Therefore the police can't access their forums and find out where there runs will take place. They also only announce a start point and they then from that start point announce where they'll be going. When they stop for a break they then announce where the next stage will be going. I guess that's pretty extreme but being big boofy V8 drivers, they've apparently been targeted before by the Police.

[snoopy]

Quote:

Originally posted by ianB
Thought I'd have a read of that out of interest. Not sure what an epa is though. Is it like the British MOT, a certificate that the vehicle is fit (legal) for the road?

Two things sprung to mind when reading it:

Firstly, if your car is legal, why worry?

Secondly, if the Police use these sites for legal reasons, then do others use them for illegal reasons? That's more worrying.

ian

Yes you are true in what you say Ian, if the car is legal you have no worries.

But what happens is you get a notice to present the car to the DEPT to prove that it is legal, so you can waste a lot of your life going to these inspections even if your car is legal. Seen some people go to these inspections 4 times a month and they had changed nothing.

[alistaircooke]

"just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean that they are not after me."

but really, in my ever-so-humble opinion;

why do we drive mini's? cause we're different and want to stand out from all of the other "boring/dull cars" on the road. not to hide away in a run-of-the-mill saloon car, with a big-brute V8 under the hood cause I'm a bad boy.

so why do we buy personalised number plates, put union jacks on our roofs, and stripes on our bonnets? I'll tell ya, .....we want to be noticed, pointed at, smiled at, loved :-) :-)

but we're fools if we think that "mr policeman" doesn't notice those cheeky little Mini Coopers whizzing round the suburbs. after all a car that small just looks like it's going faster don't it?

ok...so I agree....advertising on the web that you regularly speed, drive without your seatbelt, or your car is modified to "Fast, Furious, Come and Catch Me" proportions isn't the most wisest of decisions, especially if you post your home phone number and credit card details on the same page :-)

but I don't think any MINI (or indeed any performance car) owner cannot expect some additional attention from the boys in the blue, if only for the same reason I can no longer pick my nose at traffic lights, have bad hair, or go out in my "rags", because I drive a car that people look (stare) at.

how many people will view my mini-profile to see what Modifications I have? A few....

how many of the speed cameras in the Eastern Distributor will notice me doing more than the 80 km/h limit - every single one of 'em, I can tell you.

cheers,

Al - who'll step down from his soapbox now :-D

[Boo]

Anyone would think that there has been a lack of violent crime and drug dealing for the cops to be so bored that they have to start targeting websites.
I don't object to them defecting illegal cars, but i do object to them doing it at the expense of cleaning up serious crime.

It is like the holiday double demerit point system..
If the government was serious about stopping speeding etc, they would increase the demerit points without increasing the fines. Hitting people in their hip pockets has nothing to do with a deterant to speeding, loosing your license does. Increasing fines is revenue raising.

In fact fines themselves are pure revenue raising. If it was all to do with detering speeding the loss of points would be sufficient as it would lead to a loss of license and an inconvenienced lifestyle. Fines are a way for the governmet to raise revenue by other means, simple as that.

They are a lie by the government to justify their actions!!

(off the soapbox now )

[FLiPSiDE]

Well if this is the case.. i most definitely did NOT see peak performance yesterday and i specifically told them i do NOT intend on getting the hartge kit next month.. how dare any of u even insinuate such filthy LIIIIES! hahaha

as for fines and defects, i think u play the game.. u take the risk. if u mod your car.. as long as nothing 2 major and obvious is done.. cops will never pick up on it, and if they do, keep your stock parts handy, swap back, a few dollars to clear your defect and voila tho more often than not u really have 2 b doing something stupid (or driving a jap import )for a cop to ask u 2 pop your bonnet anyways

[chiph]

Quote:

Originally posted by ianB
<snip> Secondly, if the Police use these sites for legal reasons, then do others use them for illegal reasons? That's more worrying.

ian

Two thoughts:

1) Cops are like anyone else: basically lazy. So if you were a policeman, why not take advantage of a computerized source of easy pickings?

2) There are indeed people using the internet for a source of tricked-out cars to steal. I recall a post here last year about someone whose car was stolen after being seen on an enthusiast website, and then sold a piece at a time over eBay.

The answer to both of these are to minimize the amount of personally identifiable information you post. Which stinks because the whole idea behind these sites is to share info about your car & hobby.

Chip H.

[Boo]

Quote:

Originally posted by FLiPSiDE
Well if this is the case.. i most definitely did NOT see peak performance yesterday and i specifically told them i do NOT intend on getting the hartge kit next month.. how dare any of u even insinuate such filthy LIIIIES! hahaha

FLiPSiDE, do tell us all about it. What did they say??
How much?? Hartge won't pose you any problems with the police anyway i would think.

[FLiPSiDE]

pretty much what we already know i think.

5 grand for the supercharger nonsense. another 2 for the exhaust (not getting that tho) they've dyno'd at the 200hp and rekon the exhaust adds the extra 10-15hp.. but this contradicts what ive read form birds and others who've done it so i'm not sure..

they've done 2 conversions already (one on a car same colour as mine with chrome rims that i've admired around town )

they have the parts in stock, fitted in a day, only have to book a few days in advance..

i went yesterday to check out the place since i'd never heard of it.. very professional setup, they were friendly and helpful to me (and that means alot 2 me as u all know i look all of 18 so i often get the brush off when cars are involved ).. so that helped make my mind up.. gotta take my car into bmw on the 19th of may for a few things replaced under warranty (boot lock, radiator resevoir, seat airbag connector things ) so keeping to the theme of this tread i imagine i will NOT b getting it done soon after

spoke to the tech dude and sales guy at my dealership about the hartge kit when it was in for service earlier in the week as well.. and they didnt seem to fussed.. obviously if the engine blows up im in a spot of bother.. but i got the feeling they'll still fix any other warranty related issues not including the engine and drivetrain and quote of the day was from the sales guy "for the price of the hartge u could blow up a head, replace it, and still be infront of the works kit" hehe

that said.. i'd love the works kit being official and all.. but its just 2 rich and not enuff ponies

oh and one more thing.. in a rush job before i took it for service i put the stock airbox back on and couldnt get the clamp on the air hose 2 go on properly... no1 noticed it was off and it didnt get put back on properly, and the metal shield has worn thru the heat shileding on the bonnet a little.. and no1 noticed that either.. so i think i mite get away with having the hartge charger pulley on there when i have 2 go for service, as long as they dont go tinkering with the ECU

[robbo mcs]

Hi,

Thanks for the info, it is a good point you make. Unfortunately my car photos are now out in the ether!

I have also heard sinister stories about insurance companies squibbling about policies on cars they have photos of being tracked etc That is they tried to deny insurance for a road accident because they believed the accident has happened on the track and had been towed to a road location. Also potentially if you advertise modifications that you haven't told the insurance company about they can technically void your policy for non-disclosure.

As far as attention from the cops the mini is a target for the right reasons! I have been stopped by the coppers twice in the mini, once for RBT, and once at the scene of an accident where I was helping someone. On both occasions they just wanted to look at the car, ask how it went, "my old man used to have a cooper S" etc, etc. Now I dont mind THAT kind of attention.

Robbo

[Albs]

It is a very interesting, albeit slightly worrying, topic this one. I spend plenty of time at www.ls1.com.au, www.fordforums.com and of course this site (Yep I love the big Aussie cars as much as I do the MCS. Horses for courses! Anyhow what I am trying to get too, is that I have spent plenty of time on car forums and I have read plenty of information on this topic.

The way I see it there are 4 potentially dangerous groups of users. Police, Insurance Companies, Car manufacturers / Dealers and Thieves.

While I can’t imagine police officers sitting here picking out car owners to target (to busy with radar guns ), I can imagine them keeping an eye on major forums for details of car ‘cruises’ etc. This would be far more interesting to police officers than individual people. It’s much easier to target (as they know the details etc) and there are plenty of people to target all in the one place.

As with Police Officers I doubt Insurance Companies sit here monitoring web forums. However if you put a claim in and they are in anyway suspicious they will dig around all the available sources for information. You can bet that one of those sources would be car forums, especially if you drive a ‘modified car’. Hence you must be very careful regarding what you post on these forums, especially when you are in the process or making a claim.

Not all Car Manufactures would have people browsing car forums, but some do – I know that a number of Ford employees read (and sometimes post) on FordForums, including Geoff Polities and David Flint (heads of Ford Aus and FPV, respectively). The same goes for car dealers. Car dealers would also be similar to Insurance Companies, as in, they aren’t concerned with day to day activities of owners but if its something that affects them, I.E a warranty claim where they are suspicious, expect them to check any sources they can get there hands on.

Only a few months ago I recall reading about a guy in the US with a WRX who modified it and then blew up the motor, he claimed to the dealer that his car was stock (put all the stock bits back on for when he took it to the dealer) and it looked like he was going to get the warranty work done. However he decided to brag about this fact to a car forum. Some of the forum users were so incensed (as they had been denied legitimate warranty work – due to people like him scamming the system) over this, they actually notified Subaru about it. Needless to say he didn’t get his engine fixed under warranty!

If you haven’t broken any rules or aren’t trying to ‘scam’ insurance or car companies then the above groups aren’t really much of a concern, as you have nothing to hide. However posting information, pictures or videos of things that are not 100% lawful is risky as potentially anyone in the above groups could access the material and use it against you.

The last group, car thieves, are an issue for everyone who posts information, pictures or videos about their cars on a forum. Anyone can be ‘lurking’ on these forums and reading what is being posted. You hear some horror stories about car theft and, in particular, cars that appear to have been targeted.

Overall, IMO the important thing to remember is that everything you post on these forums can be viewed by just about everyone these days and you never know who is watching these forums. I think its summed up pretty well by FordForums warning - http://www.fordforums.com/showthread...&threadid=4057 “Don't post any information you wouldn't be comfortable telling a complete stranger”.

Sorry for rambling on! But I feel it’s a pretty important topic for everyone on these forums.

[swamos]

Thanks Albs, great post

[IML337]

This definately happens. Police targeting cars for defecting. Dealers targeting cars for warranty blacklisting, and theives targeting cars to setal.

I have a good friend who is heavily involved in the LS1 forums and the stories he has told me (and the things that have happened to him) are scary!

I even saw a thread on a US forum a year ago about a workshop tech who serviced a new Mustang or something - boasting about the ridiculous speeds he got it up to and how he flogged the daylights out of it. About three pages into the thread the owner of the car made a post. Guess who lost their job (stupid kid).

But if you've done nothing illegal then why worry?

[swamos]

Quote:

Originally posted by IML337
Dealers targeting cars for warranty blacklisting, and theives targeting cars to setal.

Oh bugger, does this mean the warranty on my Lotus is screwed??

[IML337]

Well I know a while back a certain Aussie car manufacturer trawled the forums looking for people with mods and people who had been to the drags, and tried (as best they could) to compile a list of VIN's blacklisted for warranty claims.

It's true, because I saw the list