Before You Post A Single Picture Online Read This Now!

xxRolandxx

xxRolandxx

Active Member
What do you know about Meta-data? So you took some awesome shots of your indoor grow, done all your research, spent money on filters, lighting and all the goodies.. it was successful and now you want to show it off. Cool man, I dig it. Me too.

So you decide to photoshop some of your pictures to remove any identifying information (addresses on the shipping box for example) and feel safe that you covered yourself. Well guess what, you just put ALL that work you did in jeopardy. Why you ask?

META DATA. What is Meta data?

When you take a picture with a digital camera, your camera embeds information into your image which contains a thumbnail, as well as the type of camera you used to take the picture and some other interesting tidbits.
You might be thinking – SO WHAT? If I am posting my picture online what the frick do I care if the thumbnail of my image is embedded. Sure if you have nothing to hide than you should not be worried.
But if you are snapping pictures with a stolen camera or you are editing your images to hide something contained in them – then you should be aware of MetaData, and know how to remove that metadata from photos. That’s right the thumbnail is NOT updated as you edit the image, it is the original thumbnail. So if you are photoshopping yourself – make sure the original picture didn’t show you in a compromising situation!
We have seen instances in the past few years of people getting nailed because their fancy smancy camera embedded their GPS location into their MetaData. Even a not so techie person can view the MetaData and use it against you! There are plenty of sites for that, CameraSummary is one of such image data extractor websites.
Let’s teach our paranoid friends how to remove their MetaData from pictures and ease their minds.
We can start by downloading a small application called JPEG & PNG Stripper. It is a 75KB file that does exactly what it promises. There are not many options and you really cannot go wrong. It is a simple drag and drop operation that will clear up your skeletons in the closet.
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http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-remove-the-metadata-from-your-photos-windows-only/



Now you dont have to use this product. Google is your friend, there are a lot of image cleaners out there. If you use Linux there is a program called Jhead which does the same thing.

While the nature of this business is risky (not only from LE but also from an inventive thief who might come here, troll for GPS metadata come and steal your harvest) but we can take step to minimize the risk. This is one of the most essential steps!

Be aware, stay safe and keep growing and toking.
 
newworldicon

newworldicon

Well-Known Member
You have to ask yourself if the pigs would ever really want to waste the time, resource and effort just to bust a small time grow in a spare room or closet?
 
xxRolandxx

xxRolandxx

Active Member
True enough, but in my mind I look at it like this. It takes an extra 5-10 minutes to run your pics through this. And that is worth peace of mind, and I would rather be safe...than seriously sorry.
 
newworldicon

newworldicon

Well-Known Member
xxRolandxx said:
True enough, but in my mind I look at it like this. It takes an extra 5-10 minutes to run your pics through this. And that is worth peace of mind, and I would rather be safe...than seriously sorry.
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No need to be sorry, caution is key but paranoia is also a bitch sometimes. Still better safe then sorry.
 
Brick Top

Brick Top

New Member
newworldicon said:
You have to ask yourself if the pigs would ever really want to waste the time, resource and effort just to bust a small time grow in a spare room or closet?
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It could all depend on where someone lives. I live out side a "Mayberry"- like town where a four plant bust is damn big news and makes the cops look like they are earning their pay. In places like this it might be just the sort of thing the cops look for so they can get some press and look like they do more than eat donuts all morning and hang around at the barbecue shack all afternoon.
 
newworldicon

newworldicon

Well-Known Member
Brick Top said:
It could all depend on where someone lives. I live out side a "Mayberry"- like town where a four plant bust is damn big news and makes the cops look like they are earning their pay. In places like this it might be just the sort of thing the cops look for so they can get some press and look like they do more than eat donuts all morning and hang around at the barbecue shack all afternoon.
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By this reasoning you are expecting lazy donut eating cops to do some techno snooping for themselves to be able to find people via an embedded piece of info on a image on the net. I suspect that may be beyond the technical abilities of a small town cop or am I just being sceptical??
 
jesus of Cannabis

jesus of Cannabis

:-)
newworldicon said:
By this reasoning you are expecting lazy donut eating cops to do some techno snooping for themselves to be able to find people via an embedded piece of info on a image on the net. I suspect that may be beyond the technical abilities of a small town cop or am I just being sceptical??
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dont under estimate the will of the local Barney Fife. Looking for them hippies with the hippie lettuce is all he has to justify a new 4x4 and maybe a few ATV's this is money making to the law enforcement community.
 
newworldicon

newworldicon

Well-Known Member
jesus of Cannabis said:
dont under estimate the will of the local Barney Fife. Looking for them hippies with the hippie lettuce is all he has to justify a new 4x4 and maybe a few ATV's this is money making to the law enforcement community.
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Fair enough, it is a fool that underestimates his enemy but knowing the nature of his enemy is an advantage. Besides I live in a city, if you guys are in north cali or wherever I suppose they would want a 4x4 much more. Here blankets are on track bikes, singlespeeds.
 
xxRolandxx

xxRolandxx

Active Member
One thing I am always weary about nowadays is a young tech savy cop looking to make a name for himself. Really looking at the meta data of photos is not difficult at all.

The other thing is tech savy thieves looking for an easy score. If they found your location from the meta data, go in while you aren't home and steal all your loved and cared for ladies (and possibly expensive equipment easily sold on Ebay)...what are ya gonna do? Call the cops and report a burglary? Nope you are just shit outta luck.

Anyway thanks for the rep guys, just trying to share knowledge when I can and learn as much as possible from all of you.
 
Brick Top

Brick Top

New Member
newworldicon said:
By this reasoning you are expecting lazy donut eating cops to do some techno snooping for themselves to be able to find people via an embedded piece of info on a image on the net. I suspect that may be beyond the technical abilities of a small town cop or am I just being sceptical??
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It is difficult to say if a small town cop would have to be computer ignorant to be a small town cop or not. Would you expect so? When it comes to positions like County Sheriff there are elections. Ambitious deputies that would like to run for Sheriff when the present one is getting a bit old or does not seem popular might like a couple small pot busts he could play up in the local media to help get him some votes. Cops that do frequent sites like this and pick something up will also share information they find with cops of other areas. On one site I was a member of a guy was busted when a picture he posted caught the corner of his furnace, he grew in his basement, and thanks to having a nice high resolution digital camera when the picture was enlarged a sticker with the business name, address and phone number of the heat- a/c business that installed and serviced the furnace could be clearly read. The info was passed on to the locals and the locals visited the heat - a/c place and got information they needed and the guy was busted. So it doesn't always have to be Barney that spots the original info, it can be some real pro in some other State who then passed on the info.

You just never know.
 
Brick Top

Brick Top

New Member
newworldicon said:
Fair enough, it is a fool that underestimates his enemy but knowing the nature of his enemy is an advantage. Besides I live in a city, if you guys are in north cali or wherever I suppose they would want a 4x4 much more. Here blankets are on track bikes, singlespeeds.
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In my case it's N.C. and a nice new 4X4 patrol vehicle would be a real prize ... and enough busts could also be the ticket the local cop or County Deputy needs to get a chance to move out of the weeds to the big city of Raleigh or to the State level, or even to the SBI and earn a larger income too.

Motivation comes in many forms.
 
Serapis

Serapis

Well-Known Member
newworldicon said:
You have to ask yourself if the pigs would ever really want to waste the time, resource and effort just to bust a small time grow in a spare room or closet?
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You underestimate the resourcefulness of law enforcement. The poster is merely offering up information about a free piece of software that will take worries off of some of those that would like to share their grows, but worry about security. If you are not, that is no reason to get into an argument with the poster is it?

I for one appreciated the information and have just scrubbed every photo on my hard drive. Now I don't have to worry if my editor places any info into photos I resize. Some digital cameras COME WITH GPS and that info is 'stamped' into each picture file and it works with Google Earth, which is also used by some agencies to look for possible grow sites.

I think that this post is VERY relevant to what we do here at RIU..... grow and share and discuss.
 
newworldicon

newworldicon

Well-Known Member
Serapis said:
You underestimate the resourcefulness of law enforcement. The poster is merely offering up information about a free piece of software that will take worries off of some of those that would like to share their grows, but worry about security. If you are not, that is no reason to get into an argument with the poster is it?

I for one appreciated the information and have just scrubbed every photo on my hard drive. Now I don't have to worry if my editor places any info into photos I resize. Some digital cameras COME WITH GPS and that info is 'stamped' into each picture file and it works with Google Earth, which is also used by some agencies to look for possible grow sites.

I think that this post is VERY relevant to what we do here at RIU..... grow and share and discuss.
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I'm also begining to realise that what is relevant at RIU is that people go around the forum trying to correct each other forgetting that opinions was and still is the basis for this forum and in life, I offered an opinion and so did you and that's it. I dont think I ever underestimate law enforcement but I also will not overestimate them. I will always base my opinion on human nature, it's worked for 38 years so far.

I also can't see how you think I am against the program, I never was. I just think that needing to scrub pics before putting them on this forum is not necessary. That's my opinion. Consider this, by this reasoning a local cop would have to go onto RIU and try to target a member on a forum website with tens of thousands of members worldwide with alias names etc. find a member that lives in his jurisdiction then try to find his whereabouts then go bust him all because he has a few cfl's to a 600W growing a few plants......yeah right!

As for the other scenario....a bigger law enforcement operation where they set a benchmark for who and what size of home grow they want to target and then painstakingly track these people down and bust them....plausible yes, likely NO! considering again the size. Stumbling onto something is one thing, premeditation is another.

Back to human nature and likely events....anyone being bust through a sting operation on RIU for a few plants, unlikely. Now if you had pics of a huge room with 100 3 foot bushes bragging about it then yeah that seems more reasonable a scenario.
 
S

scooterdog

Member
Thats Great!! Anyday now the cops are gonna be knocking on my door to give me back my camera that some prick stole from me, then bust me with my stash! I better smoke all this shit now!
 
Abominator

Abominator

Member
Serapis said:
You underestimate the resourcefulness of law enforcement. The poster is merely offering up information about a free piece of software that will take worries off of some of those that would like to share their grows, but worry about security. If you are not, that is no reason to get into an argument with the poster is it?

I for one appreciated the information and have just scrubbed every photo on my hard drive. Now I don't have to worry if my editor places any info into photos I resize. Some digital cameras COME WITH GPS and that info is 'stamped' into each picture file and it works with Google Earth, which is also used by some agencies to look for possible grow sites.

I think that this post is VERY relevant to what we do here at RIU..... grow and share and discuss.
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Going to have to agree. Often the times when people underestimate the police are the times they get busted. Stay safe brahs
 
devero420

devero420

Active Member
you dont need anything fancy for this. All you have to do is get a USB thumbstick or a small partition on your hard drive and format it with a FAT32 file system which does not support metadata. Copy your pictures to it and then back again to clean them or better yet store them on it.

Your done.
Easy Peasy
 
newworldicon

newworldicon

Well-Known Member
devero420 said:
you dont need anything fancy for this. All you have to do is get a USB thumbstick or a small partition on your hard drive and format it with a FAT32 file system which does not support metadata. Copy your pictures to it and then back again to clean them or better yet store them on it.

Your done.
Easy Peasy
Click to expand...
Can you post a link for anyone interested please?
 
devero420

devero420

Active Member
newworldicon said:
Can you post a link for anyone interested please?
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Sorry I'm not sure what you mean, I am drawing from experience, there is no link. But if you wanted to do it just google "[your OS] convert a usb jump drive to fat32" if you do not know how to do it.
 
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