You are trusting the transport authority in this instance to always report the truth.
If my car gets stolen, the police is going to be the one that needs the location data to track it. If I get stopped by cops, they will be the ones to look at the data to verify that it’s legally registered and that I legally own it. If I buy a stolen car, the police and the DMV are the organizations I’m going to get in trouble with.
Even if the registration itself is decentralized, it’s usage is centralized - it’s always the state that checks it. Even when I check the registration with the seller to make sure it’s legit, I do it because I know the police or the DMV is going to check the very same registration. I mean, there are some used TVs that cost more than some used cars, but I wouldn’t check their registration (which does not exist) because the police is not going to check my TV’s registration (I’m not from the UK 😜)
With that in mind - we don’t lost much when we trust the state to operate the centralized database. If they wanted to scam us they could do it just as easily when checking the blockchain. Sure, maybe having it decentralized will make it easier to prove in court (which - let me remind you - is also state operated) if they do decide to fake their own blockchain queries, but at this point it’s nowhere near worth the extra operation cost of the blockchain.
Same with things like tickets - the organizer is going to check your ticket anyway, and if they decide to scam you they can just not let you enter even if the blockchain says you really do own the ticket. Or even better - just mint NFTs for tickets for a fake event that is never going to actually happen. So why not just let the organizer run the centralized database?
Software activation too - let the developers run the keys database. If they wanted to scam you they could just block your login even if the blockchain says you own the NFT.
And note that in all these examples, the organization that could run the centralized database has much less incentive to scam you than some random seller (or scalper). Yes, an incentive to scam always exists, but its strength should be taken into account and compared to the cost of the scam-prevention mechanism suggested.
Decentralization works for JPEG NFTs because they are worthless. You don’t verify them to get anything useful - the closest thing to it is Twitter showing an octagon around verified NFT profile pictures - which is easy to bypass.
If my car gets stolen, the police is going to be the one that needs the location data to track it. If I get stopped by cops, they will be the ones to look at the data to verify that it’s legally registered and that I legally own it. If I buy a stolen car, the police and the DMV are the organizations I’m going to get in trouble with.
Even if the registration itself is decentralized, it’s usage is centralized - it’s always the state that checks it. Even when I check the registration with the seller to make sure it’s legit, I do it because I know the police or the DMV is going to check the very same registration. I mean, there are some used TVs that cost more than some used cars, but I wouldn’t check their registration (which does not exist) because the police is not going to check my TV’s registration (I’m not from the UK 😜)
With that in mind - we don’t lost much when we trust the state to operate the centralized database. If they wanted to scam us they could do it just as easily when checking the blockchain. Sure, maybe having it decentralized will make it easier to prove in court (which - let me remind you - is also state operated) if they do decide to fake their own blockchain queries, but at this point it’s nowhere near worth the extra operation cost of the blockchain.
Same with things like tickets - the organizer is going to check your ticket anyway, and if they decide to scam you they can just not let you enter even if the blockchain says you really do own the ticket. Or even better - just mint NFTs for tickets for a fake event that is never going to actually happen. So why not just let the organizer run the centralized database?
Software activation too - let the developers run the keys database. If they wanted to scam you they could just block your login even if the blockchain says you own the NFT.
And note that in all these examples, the organization that could run the centralized database has much less incentive to scam you than some random seller (or scalper). Yes, an incentive to scam always exists, but its strength should be taken into account and compared to the cost of the scam-prevention mechanism suggested.
Decentralization works for JPEG NFTs because they are worthless. You don’t verify them to get anything useful - the closest thing to it is Twitter showing an octagon around verified NFT profile pictures - which is easy to bypass.