Personalised plates are regularly used in films and television series to hint that a character is a braggart or an egomaniac or just a bit desperate for attention.
Viewed from outside, what this fixation suggested was a giggling braggart, fidgeting in the school playground, and pointing at girls with whom he would never stand a chance.
Indeed, within days of the recent denial-of-service hacks, authorities quickly focused their search on an Internet Relay Chat braggart with the moniker "mafia-boy" and on "Coolio, " the alias of the person who allegedly hijacked the domain of RSA Security and redirected it to a defaced site.