Security Warning: phones and cameras with geotagging using GPS

[Odd Job]

I just downloaded a random sample of 100 images that THR members have posted, and found 7 of those had been geotagged. This means there is latitude and longitude info in the metadata of the image.
I used that data to find the locations where those pictures were taken. I have sent those 7 members messages with the location of where the photo was taken. It is accurate to within an individual house on a road, or a particular shooting spot at a range.

If you post images of guns online, it may be better if you turn geotagging off on your phone or camera. If you want to know whether your images have been geotagged, you can download iTag which is free software, and use it to load an entire directory of images on your computer. If they are geotagged, they will have a little earth symbol like this:

Pictures you have already posted will have to be deleted if you don't want the location available.

If you want to strip all the data out of a folder of images on your computer, you can use a tool such as ExifPurge.

It will take everything out, even the camera/phone details, and save the cleaned files in a new folder.

 

[.308 Norma]

Holy Cow! That's really interesting Odd Job.
Are you talking about the kind of camera in my wife's smart phone? Because she sometimes uses her phone to take pictures of our dog to post on Facebook. Does that mean if some stranger knew how, they might be able to tell from those photos where our house is located?
This kind of stuff is almost too much for me to fathom. I just thought my privacy was being violated when someone was listening in on my conversation with a girlfriend on the party line telephone my folks had when I was 16.

 

[243winxb]

" location tag " is in my Samsung cell phone and tablet camara settings. Its turmed off.

 

[Good Ol' Boy]

Privacy has been dead for several years now. In this day and age there's simply too many variables to keep track of to maintain any amount of privacy. I gave up on all of that stuff years ago.

If someone wants to gain info to my residence to commit criminal acts, 1. when I'm not home there's nothing that I care enough about that isn't secured enough that I'm not worried; 2. heaven help them if I'm home.

 

[1976B.L.Johns.]

Crap, was not aware of this! It's been 33 years since 1984 and I thought Big Brother had grown up! BUT seriously, Odd Job, thanx for the heads up!

 

[slumlord44]

no location tag on my IPhone

 

[Tallbald]

Hmm. I'm not tech saavy. Could our Olympus digital camera geotagged also? Don.

 

[wally]

Hmm. I'm not tech saavy. Could our Olympus digital camera geotagged also? Don.

It could be, GPS is part of about every cell phone and geo tags in the exif header is pretty much always enabled by default, so its really important to be aware of this with cell phone photos.

With standalone cameras GPS usually a extra cost "feature" not available on the low end. I've posted warnings about this in the past, I've a nice compact Panasonic TS3 which I got because is "ruggedized" and waterproof to 33', with full 1080p video. Nice camera, but I had to turn off the geo tag feature in the setup menus. Check your phone setup menus and disable GPS if it has it. Viewing the exif info from your photos should tell you.

Its definitely worth getting a program like ExifPurge to use before posting photos on line. Most of the exif info is geek crap like f-stop, shutter speed, iso, and other dubious value camera tech info, but the latitude & longitude of geo tags can be a problem if you value privacy in the slightest.

 

[Dr.Rob]

I found none of those.

 

[Odd Job]

re you talking about the kind of camera in my wife's smart phone? Because she sometimes uses her phone to take pictures of our dog to post on Facebook. Does that mean if some stranger knew how, they might be able to tell from those photos where our house is located?

Indeed they can find the address. If you are unsure, provide me a link to one of the pictures and I will see if it is geotagged.

 

[Odd Job]

I found none of those.

What didn't you find?

 

[Odd Job]

Hmm. I'm not tech saavy. Could our Olympus digital camera geotagged also? Don.

Possibly. If you have used it to take pictures for this forum, provide me a link to one of those threads and I'll check it.

That goes for anyone, if you are unsure how to check then post a link to the thread where your picture is and I'll check it.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Geotags. Found none.

 

[DoubleMag]

FYI here's a link to the Exif Purge program

http://download.cnet.com/EXIF-Purge/3000-12511_4-75886495.html

 

[dh1633pm]

There are apps available for the iphone and droids that will remove the data. There are also windows programs that will remove the data in bulk.

 

[Decoy80]

Thanks for the heads-up on the subject. I must learn how to check my phone's camera settings. I never really had thought about it.

 

[Armored farmer]

...good to know, thanks.

 

[243winxb]

Could our Olympus digital camera geotagged also? Don.

My Canon cameras are. The default is set to off.

I dont know how good, updated this list is? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cameras_which_provide_geotagging

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

Can we actually turn off geotags, phone location, computer cameras and mics etc? I think it is possible that we are only turning the little indicator symbol on or off.
There was a story in the news recently showing a photo of Zuckerberg with a piece of tape over his laptop camera.

 

[MarkDido]

no location tag on my IPhone

Knowing apple, it's probably there, you just can't shut it off.

 

[pintler]

Geotagging is a subset of 'exif data':

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exif

You can edit or remove the exif data (this article is pretty short, but the 'External Links' section looks like it might have useful info):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metadata_removal_tool

 

[Decoy80]

I love the instant access to information my phone gives me.
I hate to say it, but it also provides instant access to information about me to others.
My father told me the Internet was the Devils work and I think it is 50/50 good and bad
My smartphone falls in the same category.
I remember the old 8 party phone lines where everyone heard clicks when they heard their own ring and picked up the phone.
I'm on the downhill side of life and things change, I must roll with it.
Let the slick end slide and the rough end drag. Just keep on moving forward.

 

[Justin]

Holy Cow! That's really interesting Odd Job.
Are you talking about the kind of camera in my wife's smart phone? Because she sometimes uses her phone to take pictures of our dog to post on Facebook. Does that mean if some stranger knew how, they might be able to tell from those photos where our house is located?
This kind of stuff is almost too much for me to fathom. I just thought my privacy was being violated when someone was listening in on my conversation with a girlfriend on the party line telephone my folks had when I was 16.

Last time I checked, Facebook generally resamples any image you upload and, in the process, removes the image EXIF data before the photo is posted to your timeline.

That said, I would be completely unsurprised to find out that Facebook archives the EXIF information for their own purposes.

 

[boom boom]

Depressing but thanks for the headsup on smartphone picture taking.

I guess sometimes being a technical luddite and having such things as old standalone digital cameras or even gasp film without that feature is a good thing.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

Anything done over the internet or phone is saved forever in Utah.