About 800,000 of the license plates, meant to commemorate the bicentennial of the War of 1812, are in use in Maryland. Instead of a Maryland government-run page, the site links to a Philippines-based website flashing advertisements for an online casino.
Samuel Zehr was unloading the car after a Memorial Day cookout when he glanced down at the Maryland license plate affixed above the rear bumper and saw a link to www.starspangled200.org.
Curiosity gripped him, and he pulled out his phone and typed in the URL. Instead of the official Maryland page he expected to see, a website flashing advertisements for a Philippines-based online casino popped up.“The gambling website was not at all what I was expecting,” said Zehr, 39, who works in IT and has lived in Greenbelt in suburban Washington for more than 10 years.
The license plates were meant to commemorate the bicentennial of the War of 1812, which inspired Francis Scott Key to write the national anthem. Zehr assumed he had mistyped the website address, tried again on his computer and got the same result.It’s been less hilarious for state officials in Maryland. Maryland’s Motor Vehicle Administration said there are 798,000 War of 1812 plates in use, about 15 percent of the more than 5.2 million registered vehicles in the state.
The agency said in a statement that officials are working with the agency’s information technology department “to identify options to resolve the current issue.” Millner declined to say whether state officials are considering sending out new plates or how much such a move would cost. The agency also wouldn’t say whether officials are considering buying the URL so it could once again promote the state’s history.Millner said “the URL was maintained by Star Spangled 200, Inc., a nonprofit formed under the War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission formed in 2007 through an Executive Order.
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