© WBAL maryland war of 1812 license plate
UPDATE (June 9): The Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration reclaimed an expired website that’s printed on hundreds of thousands of license plates that led to a gambling website in the Philippines.
The MVA sent a statement to 11 News on Friday, saying: “After investigating multiple options, the Motor Vehicle Administration took immediate action to reclaim the expired domain and prevent further misuse. In partnership with the state Department of Information Technology, the MVA engaged the services of a reputable domain broker and was able to successfully recover the URL earlier this week. Going forward, the MVA will maintain the URL, which will redirect visitors to the agency’s homepage, mva.maryland.gov.”
ORIGINAL STORY (May 30): The URL printed on hundreds of thousands of older Maryland license plates currently goes to a website promoting Philippines online casinos.
Video above: MVA shows new options for license plates (2016)
The design and content of the War of 1812 license plates originated from the War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission, which was created in 2007. Star-Spangled 200 Inc. was the nonprofit entity affiliated with the commission that led the efforts to raise money for bicentennial projects and events.
The War of 1812 plates featured an illustration of Fort McHenry with broad stripes, bright stars and bombs bursting in air.
The Star-Spangled 200’s website address is printed on those plates, which became standard issue in 2010 until the current plates featuring the Maryland flag were introduced in September 2016.
The Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration told 11 News there are currently 798,000 active War of 1812 license plates on vehicles across the state.
The MVA said it does not own the website printed on the plates and the MVA does not endorse the views or content on the current website using that URL.
The MVA said it is working with the agency’s IT department to identify options to resolve the current issue.
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READ THE FULL STORY:Web address on Maryland license plates leads to gambling site
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