there are some things you should be aware of about digital photographs.
JPEGs and other image files contain metadata called EXIF. that is, hidden information attached to the picture you see. this can include anything from the date and time the photo was taken to the color balance of the image to whether or not a flash was used. most of this stuff is pretty innocuous, but there are a couple pieces of metadata that you definitely don't want floating around on the nets. most obvious is the geotag which gives the coordinates where the picture was taken, accurate to a couple dozen feet. more subtle is the serial number of your device. this can link photos to a cell phone account which makes it easy to identify the photographer.
If you entered personal info into your camera, like your name, that too will be automatically transmitted in the EXIF data when a photo gets uploaded.
the good news is that it's really easy to protect your sensitive information. for new images, this is as simple as disabling the location feature on your phone or GPS enabled camera. better yet, tell the camera not to record any EXIF data, or don't post anything from a GPS enabled device.
for older images (and to be perfectly thorough with new ones), you'll need an application to view and edit your EXIF file, which is where most of your metadata lives. there are plenty of freeware options:
Mac OsX:if you already happen to be using aperture, you can just go to the metadata menu and open the GPS pane. otherwise, there's an app called smallimage that works really well. find it here: http://smallimage.en.softonic.com/mac
Linux: you're going to need to know your way around a command line to do this one as there's no GUI that i know about. but then again, if you're already running redhat and you still need me to tell you this, i don't know even know what to say.
exiftool is the standard:
http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/
jhead is popular too:
http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/jhead/usage.html
Windows 7: i haven't used a microsoft operating system since '98, but some friends suggested this program: http://www.photome.de/
Another free graphics program with lots of great features is Photoscape. It will allow you to resize/edit batches of photos at once, saving tons of time.
Whatever your platform, if you've got photoshop, clicking "save for web" will remove your location from an image.
It's just good security culture to police your own information. While ICM does strip information from posted photos, it does so ONLY if they get resized by the server. That's why it's up to you to ensure your images are clear of sensitive data before you upload them anywhere. Many other sites will post your photos exactly as you upload them, with EXIF info intact.
JPEGs and other image files contain metadata called EXIF. that is, hidden information attached to the picture you see. this can include anything from the date and time the photo was taken to the color balance of the image to whether or not a flash was used. most of this stuff is pretty innocuous, but there are a couple pieces of metadata that you definitely don't want floating around on the nets. most obvious is the geotag which gives the coordinates where the picture was taken, accurate to a couple dozen feet. more subtle is the serial number of your device. this can link photos to a cell phone account which makes it easy to identify the photographer.
If you entered personal info into your camera, like your name, that too will be automatically transmitted in the EXIF data when a photo gets uploaded.
the good news is that it's really easy to protect your sensitive information. for new images, this is as simple as disabling the location feature on your phone or GPS enabled camera. better yet, tell the camera not to record any EXIF data, or don't post anything from a GPS enabled device.
for older images (and to be perfectly thorough with new ones), you'll need an application to view and edit your EXIF file, which is where most of your metadata lives. there are plenty of freeware options:
Mac OsX:if you already happen to be using aperture, you can just go to the metadata menu and open the GPS pane. otherwise, there's an app called smallimage that works really well. find it here: http://smallimage.en.softonic.com/mac
Linux: you're going to need to know your way around a command line to do this one as there's no GUI that i know about. but then again, if you're already running redhat and you still need me to tell you this, i don't know even know what to say.
exiftool is the standard:
http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/
jhead is popular too:
http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/jhead/usage.html
Windows 7: i haven't used a microsoft operating system since '98, but some friends suggested this program: http://www.photome.de/
Another free graphics program with lots of great features is Photoscape. It will allow you to resize/edit batches of photos at once, saving tons of time.
Whatever your platform, if you've got photoshop, clicking "save for web" will remove your location from an image.
It's just good security culture to police your own information. While ICM does strip information from posted photos, it does so ONLY if they get resized by the server. That's why it's up to you to ensure your images are clear of sensitive data before you upload them anywhere. Many other sites will post your photos exactly as you upload them, with EXIF info intact.
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