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Recently, oral arguments were heard regarding a case about license plates and the first amendment. The Texas division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans has challenged a rejection of their proposed plate that had images of the Confederate flag.
The Texas solicitor general argued that, "Messages on Texas license plates are government speech ... [because] Texas etches its name onto each license plate and Texas law gives the state sole control and final approval authority over everything that appears on a license plate.”
Please share your ideas/comments on this case or your views on vanity plates in general.
Story: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-supreme-court-confederate-license-plates-20150323-story.html
Case: http://www.oyez.org/cases/2010-2019/2014/2014_14_144
What a vanity plate is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_plate
(Score: 4, Informative) by TLA on Sunday April 05 2015, @05:36PM
the DVLA prescreens all vanity number plates, and is in fact the only body in the UK authorised to issue them. They have not only final say on what gets screened but also on what gets recalled. Clearly they didn't consider Clarkson's "H982 FLK" plate to be offensive to anyone, but there again they probably didn't bank on him flying it to South America either... Obviously deemed offensive plates such as "P3 NIS" and "V461 NAS" are right out. Damn. Shockingly, new-style plates ending with "PNS" seem to be all the rage lately.
Excuse me, I think I need to reboot my horse. - NCommander
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Sunday April 05 2015, @06:45PM
Took me a moment, but I finally got it. Except for "H982 FLK" -- can you help me out here?
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Sunday April 05 2015, @07:15PM
Supposedly, when they took the car for filming to Argentina, the Argentines got upset because they thought it was an overt reference to the 1982 Falkland War.
However, Argentina does have a track record of going out of their way to be highly offended over the Falklands.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 06 2015, @01:16AM
It was clearly a reference to the war. Top Gear has a history of being totally un-politically-correct - that is (was?) part of it's charm. They're not racist, they take the mick out of everyone equally, including themselves. However, when they're called on it they have a nasty habit of denying things which are *obviously* true. What are the chances they got that numberplate by accident? Almost zero.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday April 06 2015, @12:03PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Monday April 06 2015, @03:41PM
According to Google, "mal viñas" translates as "bad vines" - but it doesn't translate back to the same words.
The name Malvinas comes from the original French name.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @07:27PM
So in other words, only government-approved messages allowed. What a nice system. Either allow everything or allow nothing; this is nonsense.