This is … startling.
I would imagine most people never realized that if they’ve e-mailed or uploaded pictures from their smartphone, it could leak information that could threaten their safety and the safety of their children!
This is must see TV:
I was happy to see they didn’t just broadcast fear, but demonstrated how to stop the privacy risk.
[via NBC Action News]
Stephen Bateman says
Eek, no good. But all you have to do is turn off GPS tagging to pictures…It *is* a risk, that you *should* turn off, but I’m not sure it’s worth freaking out about ??
Eric Dye says
I suppose it depends on how many pictures you’ve taken of your kids, too.
It’s kinda freaky to think someone could do that. For those that aren’t very tech savvy, this was probably a real shocker.
Jim says
I hate to say it but that is what happens when people use tech they don’t understand. That is why you need to strip the tag data (especially the geo location data) from images before you post them.
Eric Dye says
True story.
John Wilkerson says
I’ve had various smartphones for almost 10 years now. When cameras and gps started appearing in them this was the first thing I looked for when I started using the device. It’s not a “new” threat but does illustrate why I don’t post photos of my children online.
Eric Dye says
🙂
Eric J says
internet crime “expert” if he doesn’t know about EXIF info and geo tagging
Eric Dye says
He actually works in the Records Dept.
The real internet crime expert was too busy!
deaconous says
if you want to keep geotags for yourself, and not share them with your photos, use a free application called Pixelgarde Photo Privacy Editor. It’s fast, simple to use, and best of all Free! It works for iPhone, PC and Android.
Eric Dye says
Great!