Hi there, thanks for browsing through my collection of car photos. I document the automotive industry in Malaysia, and occasionally glance through other related topics as well. I hope to preserve the history of the Malaysian automotive industry through photos and some written bits here and there.

 

If you see or recognize your car among my photos, don't panic, I have no intentions of compromising anyone's privacy, security or anything of that sort. The photos of your car are intended to illustrate the Malaysian automotive industry, or in other words, are for educational purposes only.

 

Furthermore, the law in Malaysia, as well as in most developed countries iterates that it is not illegal to photograph people's cars in open, public areas. It's only illegal if the car is parked in private property (such as in someone's house or driveway), or when photography is explicitly prohibited for reasons that could be lawfully justified. Additionally, the law states that it is not mandatory to obtain the owner's permission to photograph his or her car, so long as the car is situated in an open, public area. The law also states that it is not necessary to blur out or censor the number plates on private cars. Prior to July 2015, I had censored license plates on private cars that I photographed. However, I have since abolished that practice for several reasons ;

 

1) It saves me valuable time and resources. Previously, on average, I would spend around 10 minutes per photo, neatly censoring number plates and windscreen stickers. More time would be spent if there are other cars in the background. In the long run, the time saved will mean more photos for your viewing pleasure.

 

2) The number plates are an extension of the car. Some people argue that a car and a number plate go hand-in-hand. It can be likened to someone's date of birth. The subjective value of a car's number plate is very high and without it, we're left with just the car, anonymous and like any other on the road. To honour the fact that each and every car has a story to tell, and hence is unique in one way or another, the number plates will remain as is, a testament to the individuality of each and every car I photograph.

 

3) It is not required by law. Some Malaysians believe that censoring their car's number plates in photos that they upload online is a must for privacy and security reasons. Some argue that car thieves can use number plates to obtain detailed information about the owners and their addresses. In a nutshell, this is purely paranoia. There are laws in place which protect the privacy of car owners like you and I, that prevent normal people from obtaining detailed personal information behind a car based on just the number plates alone. The number plates are fitted to your car to be displayed openly. Yes, it may be your private car, but the number plates are not meant to be private (unlike a credit card number for example), or else it would not be displayed clearly and prominently, like on each and every other car on the road. Thousands of people have seen your number plates in traffic, so why should number plates be treated any different if they're displayed on the internet ? That is why there's no such law that explicitly requires photographers to censor car number plates in their photos on the internet. There's nothing private about a number plate, it's only a privacy concern if you think it is.

 

Please note however that I never reveal the exact location where each car was photographed, only a city and the country. I never geo-tag my photographs either. I will always blur out faces in cases where consent was not obtained.

 

Nonetheless, if you strongly feel that your car has been photographed and is being used for unlawful means, or if you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to contact me personally at aero.nation@yahoo.com

 

I upload the vast majority of the photos here in my Flickr collection to Wikimedia Commons under my username, Aero777. They are available for viewing here : commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:ListFiles/Aero777

 

Please note however, that some of the photos uploaded under my Wikimedia Commons account are from other sources which explicitly display a free license.

 

You may use all of my photos which have been licensed under the free license, CC-BY-SA, according to the license's terms and conditions. In a nutshell, you may use my photos for fun or even profit, but you must credit me as the photographer, and you may not claim that I have endorsed you or your work, unless if I have. Furthermore, if you decide to use my photos, you must re-license them under the same CC-BY-SA license, and you may not switch to another, different license, unless if I have given you explicit permission to do so. The same rules apply for my photos on Wikimedia Commons as well.

 

I do not earn any money by photographing cars.

 

English Wikipedia account :

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Aero777

 

Last updated : 23 July 2015