When Geotags gets nasty.

Now come to think of it, it can freak me out (And can be used to stalk someone wink wink) xD

Most of our GPS-enabled smartphones have their geotags feature available if not enabled by default (My Nokia N900 is disabled by default). By checking the EXIF data of a picture\video, you can actually locate where’s the picture taken and have an idea what goes around that area (Google Maps, maybe?).

So, knowing what most of our Kuwaiti bloggers write which is mostly about their daily and private life, they would obviously write about something epic they have in their house (Maybe some weird rare makeup or gadget? After all, most of our bloggers are bored girls xD).

Other than that, people can be taking some confidential pictures (Let’s say an item of some sort that the person swore not to reveal it’s location) and by checking its geotag, you can locate where its taken.

Boy, after reading this article, I feel like writing a tool for that (Which is easy btw).

Now remember, turn geotags ONLY when you need it then turn it back off… That if you need it at all!

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2 thoughts on “When Geotags gets nasty.

  1. I’m surprised that this topic just started to get popular!!

    Anyways, this is also, i think, how mac is able to organize the images according to the location on their iWorldMap thingie(just made up the name, but they have that; i knew about it from the kuniv electronics expo :P)!

    However, when i heard that it has location meta data and can be tracked(i dont remember when), the first solution came to my mind was the simplest, SCREENSHOT! Do i have to say more?

  2. The data stored in images has also been used as evidence in court -or so I’ve been told.

    This data often contains the serial number of the camera. This number can be linked with the credit card used to buy the device (the store usually keeps records of purchases that include both serial and credit card numbers).

    I found out about this on a marijuana/weed forum.. don’t ask.

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