Did you know that a lot of smart phones encode the location of where pictures are taken? Anyone who has a copy of the photo can access this information.
If your son, daughter, wife, etc., is using their smartphone to post pictures to social networking sites (facebook, twitter, etc.) or is posting their photo's to online albums anyone with the right browser add-on can search that pictures data to ascertain the exact location where it was taken.
I know many of you love Twitter, Facebook, etc., and posting photos of your lunch, however, most people do not realize what kind of data they are posting, albeit inadvertantly. By posting this information, they are allowing their movements to be recorded and analyized by anyone: from a government to a nosy neighbor. After analyzing your photos, someone could find out:
If your son, daughter, wife, etc., is using their smartphone to post pictures to social networking sites (facebook, twitter, etc.) or is posting their photo's to online albums anyone with the right browser add-on can search that pictures data to ascertain the exact location where it was taken.
I know many of you love Twitter, Facebook, etc., and posting photos of your lunch, however, most people do not realize what kind of data they are posting, albeit inadvertantly. By posting this information, they are allowing their movements to be recorded and analyized by anyone: from a government to a nosy neighbor. After analyzing your photos, someone could find out:
- Where you live
- Who else lives there
- Your commuting patterns
- Where you go for lunch each day
- Who you go to lunch with
- Why you and your attactive co-worker really like to visit a certain nice restaurant on a regular basis
The storage of location based data, in the form of Latitude and Longitude inside of images is called Geotagging; essentially tagging your photograph with the geographic location.
This data is stored inside if the metadata if JPEG images and is useful for tying the photograph to a location. Want to remember exactly where you took those photographs while on vacation? This information is for you.
This data is stored inside if the metadata if JPEG images and is useful for tying the photograph to a location. Want to remember exactly where you took those photographs while on vacation? This information is for you.
However, most modern digital cameras do not automatically add geolocation (Latitude and Longitude) metadata to pictures. The process for adding the geolocation data either requires specialized add on hardware, or post processing with software on the desktop after the pictures are taken.
There is a large exception to this rule: Smartphones!
With the proliferation of smart phones that contain GPS locator technology inside, the cameras in these devices are already equipped with the specialized hardware to automatically add geolocation information to the pictures at the time they are taken.
Most people don't realize that the action of automatic geotagging takes place on their smart phones, either because it is enabled by default, not exposed the user as an option, or was asked and then forgotten. As a result, individuals often share too much information about their location, right down to the exact Latitude and Longitude when snapping photos with their smartpphone and posting them online.
The easiest way to stop posting this information for all to see it to disable geotagging on your smartphone.
[Thanks to Danny Ruscillo, President of the 100th Precinct Community Council, for passing along this important inormation.]
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