Wow! Be careful what you post online!!

[BrklynLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/technology/personaltech/12basics.html?_r=2&src=me&ref=homepage

Web Photos That Reveal Secrets, Like Where You Live

When Adam Savage, host of the popular science program “MythBusters,” posted a picture on Twitter of his automobile parked in front of his house, he let his fans know much more than that he drove a Toyota Land Cruiser.

Embedded in the image was a geotag, a bit of data providing the longitude and latitude of where the photo was taken. Hence, he revealed exactly where he lived. And since the accompanying text was “Now it’s off to work,” potential thieves knew he would not be at home.

Security experts and privacy advocates have recently begun warning about the potential dangers of geotags, which are embedded in photos and videos taken with GPS-equipped smartphones and digital cameras. Because the location data is not visible to the casual viewer, the concern is that many people may not realize it is there; and they could be compromising their privacy, if not their safety, when they post geotagged media online.

<snip>

[MadHound]

1. Ah the joys of a digital world.

Cell phones that broadcast your location, photos that tell where you live. Hmm, the more digital our society becomes, the less we retain our privacy. Is it worth it?

[SusanaMontana41]

9. We have no privacy.

Privacy is a myth. Talk on the phone, turn on a computer, step outside your home, and you're on someone's radar. Welcome to 1984.

[AtheistCrusader]

13. "Hey guys, I live at (XYZ)"

*acts shocked*

*is stupid*

[MattBaggins]

39. A true geek would say XYZZY

[dotymed]

31. Susan, you are right.

The other posts are about thieves. I think about the totally "legal" practice by "LEO's", of "sneak and peek." Can you imagine what our Founding Fathers would have said and done about this?
This would (and is) more of a reason for a revolt than most of the original (1770's) "laws."

"1984" is definitely here. Many, terminally unemployed, do not have a clue that business's like "Choice Point" have reported them (often falsely) as being felons and security risks.
Choice point did this to me years ago. They falsely reported that I was a convicted felon. It kept me from many sensitive jobsites, it probably still does, and I was just a carpenter. I was working on an Eli Lilly job at the time.
Combine that with another "legal" practice of "pre-employment credit histories."
None of this has been mentioned by politicians (that I am aware of) but these practices enable "them" to effectively destroy peoples lives. Maybe they don't like your politics, sexual preference..etc...
We (the not wealthy) are insects under a microscope. What few jobs are available will not be given to the "blacklisted."
Every phone call and internet post is recorded.....
George Orwell was a visionary. Those in charge will not deny these things.
America is a police state.
But hey, the rethugs say: "if you don't have anything to hide, then why worry about it?"
It is the most, anti-democratic, anti freedom, anti-American practice that I can imagine. Yet it is discreetly practiced at all times.

[bobburgster]

46. Often wonder the same thing.

Slippery slope....

[Warpy]

2. Ouchies.

Around here, they sit in parked cars and wait for people to leave. Or they just cruise the neighborhood and look for a set of houses with nobody home and hit the middle ones.

I have to wonder why they bother, this is a pretty poor area.

[RaleighNCDUer]

27. Why do they bother?

Houses in poor areas don't have security systems, are not wired to security companies. Nobody will know they've been there till someone gets home.

[Warpy]

40. It's not that, either

Study after study has shown most burglars work close to home, usually within a mile and a half.

Trust me, those security systems are not worth the money, especially around here. Once they're in, they just grab for 5 minutes or so and run. That will net them TVs, DVD players, computers and other stuff that's out in the open and easy to fence and that's all they need for the day's drugs.

It takes time to call the cops if a neighbors alarm is going off (did he set it off again by accident? Let's wait 5 minutes and see) and time for the cops to arrive (are they on another call?). The thieves know this, so they smash and grab and run.

[AnArmyVeteran]

3. I get pictures sent to me and I can see exactly where they were taken.

If the picture was taken with an iPod or other smart phone they embed that information in the photo. My iPod has a map of the us showing where each photo was taken. There must be an option for disabling the GPS feature on photos, but maybe not. I don't have an iPhone to be able to look for it.

On the positive side, I can see a great use for GPS stamping like if you're on a trip so you can record the exact place where the photos were taken. As a photographer I liked that feature when taking pictures for an environmental group because we had to have the exact locations for each photo. It sure beats having an external GPS device and writing each location down on paper.

[Tesha]

10. Yes, you can turn geotagging on and off on the iPhone. (NT)

[hobbit709]

4. My cameras don't have GPS and neither does my phone.

I prefer it that way.

[RKP5637]

5. Great Info!!! Thanks for posting!!! n/t

[cascadiance]

6. Careful with online copies of your resume too...

Its one thing to send a resume directly to someone who your applying for a job to, but to post one on at some place like Monster.com should NOT have your address on it. At MOST it should have just your zip code on it if you want to let job prospects know roughly where you live to stay in consideration for a job. That coupled with if you do frequent updates on your "schedule" on something like LinkedIn is what can be used to know when you're not home too.

[Billy Burnett]

7. I hate to break it to you, but ...

any uploaded file or post can reveal your exact location.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=deep+packet+inspection+software&aq=2&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=deep+packet&gs_rfai=CfKGGemBoTL6kKpSEygTtl5nAAQAAAKoEBU_Qx3pF

[AnArmyVeteran]

12. Are there ways to use anonymous sites that relay your information?

So they can prevent others from knowing your location?

[leveymg]

25. Yes, but USG has all the traffic in and out monitored. All this does is red-flags the user.

Forget trying to defeat the NSA, unless you're a highly-motivated trained operative. If you are, you wouldn't be posting at political sites.

[AnArmyVeteran]

49. My goal wasn't to hide from the NSA, just stop businesses from gathering my information.

[nashville_brook]

8. metadata is not your friend.

[axollot]

17. No, sadly. It does have it's place and can be a great tool. Just when it not used against you. n/t

[PatrynXX]

34. metadata is just fine

except when it's wrong but geotagging is something else and is only on smart phones it would seem.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

11. K&R thanks

[pam4water]

14. K&R

[customerserviceguy]

15. I've always said

Don't post anything online that you wouldn't put on a billboard over your house. Facebook and the other social networking sites are the death of privacy, and it's not solely from the site policies, either. My lady and I cannot believe the stupid stuff that our friends' teenaged daughters and sons post on these places.

[paparush]

16. Thank Gods no one publishes a book with peoples names, addresses, and telephone numbers.

(I know, I know, I'm sure Mr. Savage isn't in the phone book..)

[Alcibiades]

18. Lots of other ways to get someone's address

Voter registration records and property deeds are public records, and often online.

[paparush]

19. Yes. And you can still do it the old fashioned way by walking into the court house and or register

of deeds office.

[NYC Liberal]

38. Ayup.

http://a836-acris.nyc.gov/Scripts/DocSearch.dll/PName

For example.

[slampoet]

20. "If You tell everyone where you are on earth exactly they can find out where you are...."

Well frikkin DUH!


SO WHAT? I can give you my last name and my zip code and you can find me too.



Moral of the story. If you are too stupid to learn about the tech you buy then you will live in fear.

[leveymg]

21. Not difficult to find where anyone lives, even without geotags. I wouldn't lose sleep about this

[slampoet]

22. I can't believe there are 74 fools to rec this.

[blueworld]

23. 75:) n/t

[Romulox]

24. So...that part where your Iphone asks if it can use your current location...

You didn't believe it was really going to do it? :eyes:

I really dislike "mythbusters", (admittedly mostly because of the guy in the beret) and the entire battlebots/junkyard wars genre of TV that the show was swept in on.

[tabatha]

26. To remove location information from a photo

Using PhotoShop, cut, copy and paste image to an new image. All EXIF tags are removed.

Or, here are other ways to remove EXIF tags

http://photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00Dy2C

[Jim__]

29. Good to know. Thanks.

[Shining Jack]

32. Thanks for the info.

:thumbsup:

[no limit]

36. Windows 7 has a feature if you simply right click on the photo and hit details

it will allow you to remove all persona information.

[mwooldri]

28. Yes please be careful what you post...

We had an "issue" at my workplace, where one of our customers entered into their computer the web address for the payment page, but instead of entering in the address field they "searched" for it via Google. Someone had posted their own (not the customers' mind) account details online and Google went and indexed the information on the pdf file.

Suffice to say, our customer found out more than he wanted to know and freaked out. We smoothed out the customer and put them in the right place, but still scary... who would want to post their own personal and sensitive financial information online?

[no limit]

30. Holy shit! You mean if I post a picture of my house on a map people will know where I live?

You're right, fuck the internets!

[tabatha]

33. Only if it has GPS coordinates in the EXIF header data.

Normal cameras do NOT add that - I wish mine did, but for a different reason.

But cell phone pictures normally do.

[no limit]

35. I find that very hard to believe. Just took a phone with my android and gps on

the GPS coordinates were not in the header data.

Now, if I take a picture for google footsteps that might very well be the case which obviously makes sense.

[tabatha]

52. I don't know if all cell phones have GPS tagging

I am sure most do. I know iPhone does and I have looked at a header of a photo taken with an iPhone.

I did some searching on the web and found this:

"I haven't used any android phone my self but according to source of camera app it does show an indicator if geotaggin is on and if GPS signals are available "

How did you look at the EXIF data?

[Jkid]

37. I use twitter a lot on my T-Mobile G1 and while you can geotag your tweets, I don't use it.

But what I want to say is that most american's do not realize that privacy as they know it is already dead years ago. While there are some people who do their best to retain the old privacy of the old days, for many it's impossible.

[HillbillyBob]

41. I dont generally post pictures publically of my home

Its kind of shabby at this point, not much of anything to steal. I also have a 4 ft electric fence and 4 55 to 75 pound dogs..3 are black and one white..while you are lookin at the white one..the three black ones come from behind. Then there are the trigger happy neighbors(kidding, but he would not back down) someone is here almost all the time and Im meaner than the dogs.

I also turn off the gps on my cell phone most of the time and always before a pic if at home. If
I am out on the road and want a pick yes, because its usually collecting pics of headstones for a cousin that does cemetery surveys and genealogy.
Though LEO can turn it on from remote or the phone company can.

[Exultant Democracy]

42. As an avid hiker I love geo-tagging.

[dadzilla]

43. Metadata

There are programs to strip metadata from photos, if this is a concern you should consider it.

[Myrina]

44. LOL, all you have to do is use a site like 'dailymile' ...

... and know a little bit about human nature ... People tend to walk/run/play close to where they live or work.

Dailymile allows people to map routes right down to the address and also tracks frequency of use, times of day etc ...
so if one really wanted to stalk me or know when I'm not home to break in, all they'd need to do is follow me on Dailymile
and they'd know what time every day I take my big mean doggies out for their run, which direction we go in, and how long we're gone.
Hell, the dogs' pictures and names are on the profile so they'd have that info, too.

It's a risk we take in the 'information age'. :shrug:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

45. My god. The idea that people might actually find out where you live. Terrifying.

[upstandingcitizens]

47. HA !!

they told me I was paranoid

[BrklynLiberal]

50. check my sig line..

[OmahaBlueDog]

48. Most of that stuff can be figured out now by far less technologically involved means

My boss got on this whole kick about not putting the home address in your Garmin, because thieves can find your house. Hmmm...I guess while they're in the car, stealing the Garmin, they couldn't reach in my glove box and get my address off of my registration? Dumb...

People are paranoid over what's available about them on the internet, but haven't raised eyebrows about information that has been available to the public for years through outlets like your local tax assessor, treasury, or DMV.

[BrklynLiberal]

51. and how about this!!!

http://www.vosizneias.com/61263/2010/08/01/long-island-ny-town-uses-google-earth-to-find-250-pools-with-out-permit/

Long Island, NY - Town Uses Google Earth Finds 250 Pools With Out Permit