Exif Data on your pictures.

[Nutes]

hello all i was just wondering if anyone was aware of exif data held within photos that you upload.

if anyone uses a smart cam or smart phone, iphone etc to take their pictures, if you leave the G.P.S

turned on and the internet it can/will add into your pictures your location co-ordinates in the form of exif data.

as we are uploading pics it may take this exif data away but mabey it wont i havent checked but just a cautionary thread to anyone that cares about this kind of thing.

just food for thought peeps take care

p.s i use an image program called gimp to re-size pics and it also has an option to remove exif data t the same time.

peace my brothers

[Romeu9]

Very good info there mate!

Gladly I have mine off and now im sure it will stay that way!

Thanks

Take care

[Flail]

I turned this function of and check it every time before i take pictures of my garden, but this info will be of help to others i'm sure

[Dust]

yes good to share, that's why i never post iphone pictures on the web ^^

even the first iphone that didn't propose that service was already marking geolocalisation on all pictures.

Crazy thing once again coming from our beloved technology ^^

[lamsbread]

when i first joined the forums here i didn't have a camera, I did however have a phone.I wasnt prepared to use the phone camera. so i didn't upload pics for a while.I instead waited until i could afford a camera.

Gimp is free to download and is cool if it has an option to remove the location data.

Very good information there Nutes, thanks for sharing it with us.

Peace bro

Lams

[talleres]

buena info...

[Dust]

The Program recommmended (by elektro ) in the insert images and video topic has the exif option too, when you save, unclick "keep exif data"

[lamsbread]

Here are the links for both programs, they are both free to download.

Gimp - http://www.gimp.org/

Irfanview - http://www.irfanview.com/

Peace Lams

[Lebenszeichen]

In Windows 8 (and I think also in 7) you can delete private exif info through the file's properties>details tab. No need to use a photo editing program for something so trivial.

[Dust]

that is a good tip but for myself i also use the soft to resize at same time a often pics are too big

[GreenHead Kev]

Hi guys Kev here, is there a iPhone. App that will give me this choice?? Wow 80% of my one phones are from iPhones /iPods and all saved on my pc" not good...

[Dust]

you can choose in your iphone options to deselect Geolocalisaiton, but i think datas are still written in the pictures, just hidden if you unselect the option. It seems on W8 you don't need a soft to take them away windows offer you to erase them, but i've never tried that way. And on the pphone directly no you will not be able to change your pics, only once they are in your computer.

[gamer]

I am using this program: Exif Tag Remover

I would not recommend to trust the delete option over Microsoft Windows. The Exif Tag Remover is working fine for me and i already tested the result throught the firefox addon exif viewer. there is nothing left to show

[gasmeter]

This is good advice whether your garden is indors or outside turning off the geolocation functionality in the mobile device settings is a wise move to maintain privacy.

As mentioned you should be able to edit the files exif data via its properties under any operating system Windows, Mac or Linux or if you have a copy of Photoshop or The Gimp you could just create a completely new image file and its properties would not contain any geoloaction data.

Really it is just easier and safer to turn off any geolocation or GPS functionality in the device.

I would advise anyone working outside to just switch off their mobile device or leave it behind and avoid the temptation to use it if you wish to take images take the SIM card out or use a cheap digital camera specifically for the purpose.

It is also wise to switch off WiFi and Bluetooth and only enable these protocols unless you need to use them, and if you run any kind of smart phone install some security software like Norton Mobile which you can install on up to 3 mobile devices, avoid free solutions they provide no protection, as any accountant will tell you, "There is no free lunch", you only get what you pay for, most free solutions may detect a threat but they cannot deal with it, you have to upgrade to the paid version, providing only a false sense of security.

Remember your smart phone will betray you at every turn if you do not lock it down and disable bluetooth, WiFi and the GPS and geolocation functionality, even the GSM signal makes it very easy to triangulate someones position very, very accurately using just two cell phone transmitters, all this smart functionality just provides more attack vectors the data on the device, they are powerful little pocket computers which have come along way over the past few years, some now have quad cores

Today with everyone and their dog owning smart phones they have become an attractive target not just for script kiddies, Babylon is also in on the act too, so you need to think carefully how you use these devices  in order to maintain security and privacy.

Gasmeter 

 

[Cannabissapean]

Hey Dust, doesn't the StrainHunters Forum automatically perform such data erasures for us each time we upload Pictures into the Forum?

 

And if not, can that be Coded?  You are already Coding-In a Strain Hunters Logo, why not also drop-out a few kBytes of undesired data with the same step?  It would help to provide all of us greater security, and it might also help to reduce the storage load on your Server (dropping a few kBytes of undesired data from each and every upload.)

[gasmeter]

Good point Cannabissapean about the forums logic automatically strips the exif data if it exists as a user uploads an image or images.

 

Looking at the source code for this page I see the site appears to be written in PHP, so it would be a case of adjusting the existing logic, I think that creating a new image file from the incoming data would probably be enough to do the job rather than writing the logic to check first if the exif data exists then if it does delete or discard the data.

 

The exif data is stored with the rest of the files meta data things like the time and date the file was created and the time it was last edited etc, so the file system can keep track of the file.

 

So logically when the file is created its meta data should not contain any exif data simply because it is not necessary, the image file was created on the server so its history begins at the point of creation from the servers file systems perspective.

 

Also it should not matter what server side language is used, the PHP function to create a file simply invokes the servers file system to create the file, in a similar way to when you click a button or menu item in the graphic user interface of an operating system such as Windows.

What actually happens is that when you click the button or menu item the MKDIR command is issued or passed to the operating system via the consol or cammand line invisibly and a folder is created within the current working directory or folder.

 

I would advise stripping the data out first via the files properties or using a piece of graphics editing software such as Photoshop or Gimp which is free open source software anyway to be sure and safe, remember this site is not running under HTTPS so all the data passed over the wire from end user to server is passed in plain sight without encryption.

 

Although running the forum under HTTPS would protect users privacy and help them maintain security, removing the exif data as a matter of course before uploading image files still makes sense anyway as a best prctice, if the data does not exist in the first place it is not an issue, the threat is gone, the problem is mitigated.

[Tokage]

I'm not a tec guy and i do not really understand all the technical info. But i do know one thing. Get a shitty cheap phone like i use and you will be ok. I got no gps, no camera and no nothing when it comes to fancy gimmicks. All this makes my sleep all so sweeter with no worry  

[gasmeter]

Good advice Tokage, yeah man keep it simple, as you say no fancy gimmics, which is what most of this functionality is if you have no need to use it.

I have a low end Samsung Gallaxy Mini running Andriod, although Android is a Linux fork consider it compromised, Google did not set up the means to update and patch the OS which means there is no way to patch vulnerabilities, whereas with iOS if the OS need patching or updating Apple can roll out updates and patched from the Apple mothership to end user devices.

Simple is the Word and the Way.