I would like to preface this by saying I'm unsure of where to post this, as I feel it doesn't quite belong in the 'Security' section.
I'm sure many of you have seen the vast number of 'condemning' photographs shared on this website and in other places on the web. Along with the advent of the smart phone, taking and sharing photos of our precious greenery is easier than ever. I wanted to bring to light the risks of sharing photos taken with nearly any and all smart phones. By default, most smart phones and some cameras use geotagging to help you (the targeted end user) keep track of where the photo was taken.
This is all fine and dandy - if you didn't plan on sharing these photos with anyone else. If you have sent or shared a photo via text message, email, upload, or any other method, they could potentially know the precise location (via latitude & longitude) of your garden.
All of this information is easily accessible via the EXIF information tied to the picture. It's very easy to see this illustrated in your browser via plugins like Exif Viewer for Mozilla Firefox. If you have it installed, simply right click on any image you suspect of storing exif data - and select your 'view Exif data' option. Try it on the image below!
You should be able to find a few lines that look something like this:
EXIF GPS IFD
This is the exact information needed to find where, and which direction this photo was taken.
You may be asking yourself, "So Mooror, what do I do about this?" Well, the solution is simple: avoid geotagging in the first place. Most smart phones have the option to not include geotagging when takign photos. If it is too late and the photo has already been taken, you need to learn how to strip EXIF information from your photos before you share them. There are plenty of ways to strip image metadata, one of them being found here.
I hope you take this new found information and use it to keep your garden secure.
-Mooror
[HR][/HR]TLDR
Strip EXIF information before sharing any incriminating, or location sensitive images as they can potentially reveal their location.
[HR][/HR]
On an unrelated note, is there a post source editing option? I don't want that image to display so giant, but I don't want to host it - or affect it in any way that could strip the metadata. I just want to make it a reasonable size, 20% seems ideal... Admin/Mods?
For now I threw it in a table so it wouldn't break the layout.
I'm sure many of you have seen the vast number of 'condemning' photographs shared on this website and in other places on the web. Along with the advent of the smart phone, taking and sharing photos of our precious greenery is easier than ever. I wanted to bring to light the risks of sharing photos taken with nearly any and all smart phones. By default, most smart phones and some cameras use geotagging to help you (the targeted end user) keep track of where the photo was taken.
This is all fine and dandy - if you didn't plan on sharing these photos with anyone else. If you have sent or shared a photo via text message, email, upload, or any other method, they could potentially know the precise location (via latitude & longitude) of your garden.
All of this information is easily accessible via the EXIF information tied to the picture. It's very easy to see this illustrated in your browser via plugins like Exif Viewer for Mozilla Firefox. If you have it installed, simply right click on any image you suspect of storing exif data - and select your 'view Exif data' option. Try it on the image below!
|
You should be able to find a few lines that look something like this:
EXIF GPS IFD
- GPS Latitude Reference = north latitude (N)
- GPS Latitude = 46/1,3516/100,0/1 [degrees, minutes, seconds] ===> 46° 35.16′ == 46.586°
- GPS Longitude Reference = east longitude (E)
- GPS Longitude = 23/1,2762/100,0/1 [degrees, minutes, seconds] ===> 23° 27.62′ == 23.460333°
- GPS Altitude Reference = 0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00
- GPS Altitude = 527/1 m ===> 527 m
- GPS Time Stamp / UTC Time = 20/1,37/1,3698/100 [hours, minutes, seconds] ===> 20h 37m 36.98s
- GPS Data Degree of Precision (DOP) = 5/1
- GPS Image Direction Reference = true direction
- GPS Image Direction = 12295/126 degrees ===> 97.58 degrees
This is the exact information needed to find where, and which direction this photo was taken.
You may be asking yourself, "So Mooror, what do I do about this?" Well, the solution is simple: avoid geotagging in the first place. Most smart phones have the option to not include geotagging when takign photos. If it is too late and the photo has already been taken, you need to learn how to strip EXIF information from your photos before you share them. There are plenty of ways to strip image metadata, one of them being found here.
I hope you take this new found information and use it to keep your garden secure.
-Mooror
[HR][/HR]TLDR
Strip EXIF information before sharing any incriminating, or location sensitive images as they can potentially reveal their location.
[HR][/HR]
On an unrelated note, is there a post source editing option? I don't want that image to display so giant, but I don't want to host it - or affect it in any way that could strip the metadata. I just want to make it a reasonable size, 20% seems ideal... Admin/Mods?
For now I threw it in a table so it wouldn't break the layout.
