Geotagged Pictures Allow for Stalking

[Vandy Vol]

Apparently it's a new thing for people to look at data included with pictures posted online.  The data gives them the GPS location of where you took the picture.  So, for instance, if you take a picture of your kid at their home, school, or other locations whether they frequent, then people know where to find your kid.

You can disable this by turning off your GPS services when you take pictures (although this may affect other apps you use), or there are settings in the camera app which will specifically disable including the GPS data in the picture posted online.

[Vandy Vol]

Actually, I'm a little confused as to whether there's data encoded in the image itself, or if they're just referring to the geotagging services that Twitter, Facebook, and other sites use when you upload a picture from your phone.  There is a geotagging option in a smartphone's camera app, so it may be encoding data into the image file itself, but either way, it's something to keep in mind.

[Godfather]

I am surprised you are giving away trade secrets.

[Vandy Vol]

I am surprised you are giving away trade secrets.

I just like to make it more of an even playing field so that I have a bit of a challenge.

[Saniflush]

Actually, I'm a little confused as to whether there's data encoded in the image itself, or if they're just referring to the geotagging services that Twitter, Facebook, and other sites use when you upload a picture from your phone.  There is a geotagging option in a smartphone's camera app, so it may be encoding data into the image file itself, but either way, it's something to keep in mind.

Yea I think that's what it's talking about.  I don't see any location tagging on the actual photo file.

[Vandy Vol]

Yea I think that's what it's talking about.  I don't see any location tagging on the actual photo file.

I think it's encoded in the image itself.  At first I also thought that this likely wasn't the case, and that they were just referring to location services offered by social media sites, but then I found this:

https://www.privacyrights.org/geotagging-privacy

What is Geotagging?

Geotagging refers to the practice of adding location information – like GPS coordinates – to different types of media, such as photos.  The location information is embedded in a way that may not be visible to the naked eye.   There are several ways to make geotags visible, including browser plug-ins and software programs that can reveal the location information embedded in photos, videos and other types of media.

In Cybercasing the Joint: On the Privacy Implications of Geotagging, two researchers from the University of California Berkeley investigated how different websites incorporate geotagged media. By examining photos and videos on Flickr, Craigslist and Youtube, they found 1.3% to 4.3% of uploaded media included embedded location data.  Not surprisingly, they found geotagged photos and videos were most often captured through high-end cameras and smartphones (rather than basic cell phones).

It makes sense that the image has the geotag information, or otherwise the camera apps on smartphones wouldn't have a geotagging option that can be turned on or off.  The camera app operates independently from social media sites, so it would have to be encoding the geotag data into the file itself.