"Maybe, people could post the VIN (with no photos of the actual car) and ask the owner if they are okay to have it posted online or sent in a private message?"
That fits with my 'give the new owner the choice and don't make it for them' comment earlier.
Ok. Good to keep in mind. I doubt I'll be in this situation (other than transport and/or transport queue), but if it happens, I'll be sure to respect this. I was already wary of posting VINs because of prior complaints here. (That's why I asked you post-delivery, Bonnie, and assumed the answer was no, but was pleasantly surprised.)
I don't quite know how to handle the other version --- a line of cars in a queue or a snap of a transport vehicle with new vehicles on it not yet delivered --- where the VIN isn't obtainable due to various issues (a fence or no time to get to the transport before parting ways). Then it is a generic commodity in transport, like a stack of lumber on a train. If the recipient found out "that there are some cars in a queue or in transport" it wouldn't readily take away from their personal private attention to the matter, whether privacy concerns or timing of emotions. I think where this gets violated is if a pre-delivered vehicle is unique in some way, such as a specialty paint color or design, but so far those aren't common.
How about the converse? People who would WANT their VIN to be emblazoned everywhere, as documentary evidence, of their vehicle in transit? Those people would have to preemptively post their VIN as PLEASE PUBLISH or somesuch thing, which would require a specific thread here on the forum (which there isn't currently), or other searchable database.
I'm getting prejudiced from being in an area where I see 20 Teslas on a typical commute (yesterday); what if this were a place where there's no more than 20 Teslas in the whole state, or only 2 in the whole country? That would be a little bit different. And not just in the privacy side of things, but in the intrigue side too.
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I draw the line at associating a person with a VIN or license plate. VINs and license plates are out in the public all the time. But connecting a person to a car through association is a personal attack to privacy and should not be done.
BTW last year there was a story about the tips celebrities were paying NYC taxi drivers by associating all sorts of disconnected, but publicly available information.
Public NYC Taxicab Database Lets You See How Celebrities Tip
While its possible to do this through many steps, we should not do this with a picture we take in one step and then post on the internet without the persons permission or assumed permission. Its OK if the in the past they have already provided the information publicly themselves (ie Bonnie posting she has Sig 02).
This is why I didn't put a GoPro in my car and post all the pics of Teslas driving during commute. That would add up to a privacy violation in aggregate. (There'd be over a hundred per week from me if I did it, many establishing precise patterns, even discerning speeds with fair statistical accuracy.)
These are community standards. The community standards back in the times where it was common to drive a horse not towing anything while sitting on the vehicle were different.
