We, as in everybody here, Love to see your guns. We even want to share your guns BUT,… Make sure you do not show your guns serial number on the picture. I am guilty of this and after I was aware I have seen it over and over again. PLEASE, BE AWARE OF YOUR PRIVACY. Do not post pictures of your guns with the serial number visible. Have a great day, be safe, practice, practice practice! Lets see your guns with no serial numbers and safety on!
Why? It isn’t proof of anything other than you took a picture of a firearm…or someone did. It could have come from Al gore’s Internet.
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NOTICE: Facebook And Google Indexing Your Firearm Serial Numbers
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 8 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.
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2019/10/22/google-firearm-serial-numbers/
The guys at TFB went through their image library and found images of various firearms and silencers where the serial number is clearly visible. They then typed it into Google and voila! Every image from their website showed up in the image results.
Although it is unlikely for a random person to have the serial number on your firearms, it is dangerous for social media giants to have this information. Facebook and Instagram are both owned by the same company. Same with YouTube and Google. When these platforms data mine this information, this creates an extremely dangerous situation.
Gun owners have worried about firearm registries because they inevitably lead to confiscation. If the government has tabs on every single gun in America, it makes it easier for them to come beating on our doors, demanding that we hand them over (just as Beto has proposed). These social media giants and their owners are lefties. For all we know, these private organizations can willingly hand over a person’s name and the serial numbers on their firearms to the government. And before anyone says this is an invasion of privacy, just remember: when you signed up for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and every other social networking website out there, you agreed to their terms and conditions. Anything you put on their website becomes their property , meaning they can decide how to use that information against you.
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Very interesting!
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Thanks Todd.
Friendliest of reminders, I saw a post here in our E-community by the USCCA, that if one’s ever involved in defending one’s self and ends up in court, one’s words from these posts can be subpoenaed.
As my teachers say, blown up in font the size of one foot tall letters on a screen, read aloud in court to judge and jury, and made public. Word to wise.
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Agree 100 percent with @Todd30. I have also been guilty of that. If you want to post a picture of your firearm don’t let the serial number be visible. Technology has improved greatly. After reading what @Todd30 posted it made me think. Just my 2 cents.
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I can’t post pictures of my firearms. I lost them all in a boating accident.
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@Todd30 GREAT POST. I’ve never posted a photo of my gun online. But I have emailed and texted pics to friends and family. Never even considered the possibility that the serial # might be showing. I’m guessing that Big Tech Brother could just as easily pilfer serial numbers from pictures sent electronically.
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In my city, there’s a spot where the river runs under the interstate. It’s very common to find firearms in the water that have been thrown out by passing vehicles. (No, I don’t collect them. But I will take photos and send them to the police so they can find them.)
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Have you seen this yet? Off topic but feeling lazy …
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I agree. Pics are fine but no need to show serial numbers belonging to you.
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Photos also contain other data time, date, location and more.
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Sounds relevant to me, considering Biden/Harris desire to take our guns.
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Welcome to the family @Donald187 and God bless you.
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I don’t think I’d post any pictures of my guns, if I had any. And especially no pictures of me holding any because it seems that any time there is a "question " about someone the media manages to find pictures of the person in question holding up "assault weapons ".
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Good advice, don’t make it easy, but …
In the past 5 years, regardless of any dealer or FFL privacy policy, you, your firearms, your firearms-related purchase history, are all in the system.
Unless paid in cash, even 80 percenters like Polymer 80 frames and lowers are in the system. Private sales are currently the only way your purchases are kept under the radar. Cash purchases of ammo and miscellaneous firearms products may keep you out of agency crosshairs.
If the government goes full NAZI police-state on gun confiscation, well… all bets are off. Optics for that scenario can’t be good.
Sorry to sound so grim. I no longer believe the “ammo shortage” is a consumer driven symptom. The pattern fits. They’re following a tried and true method on how to disarm the public. To what end? If we wait to find out, it will be too late.
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This is an awesome reminder @Todd30
It definitely made me think about some photos I’ve posted of my firearms. Now days the internet and social media can be very tricky. It’s always better to be safe and keep your privacy.
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Damn, so you had bad luck also??? Mine weapons sank way out to sea in my steel canoe!!!.
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I Personally DO NOT post pictures of my guns on any social media accounts. In fact the only reason I use social media accounts is to get an extra entry into a contest to win a gun/ Gun ammo package . It is really no bodies business what kind of guns I do or Do Not have. I know what I have and how to use each & every one of them.
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