Thursday, February 24, 2011

Beware of your location...

Singapore - Whenever I travel, my iphone has been a blessing - snaping photos of places unique and interesting.   This is until I read an article that taking photos on iPhone can divulge more information that I really want to.

According to CNet, pictures taken with the newer generation of cell phones can reveal your exact location through a technology known as geotagging.  The geographical location of where photos were taken - in the form of latitutude and longitude coordinates - is encoded, and anyone who has a copy of the photos can access this information.

When posted on the social networking website or blogs, the photos - with the geographical coordinates analysed - can reveal such information as where you live, who you live with, who you go out with and your commuting patterns.

The location information is encoded in the Exif metadata of photos.  Metadata is a term for the description information embedded inside an image or another type of file.  The metadata capture by your camera is call Exif data, which stands for Exchangeable Image File Format.  Most digital photo software can display Exif information to users, but it is usually not editable.

iPhone offer the option to disable geotagging of photos.   Check this website for more information on geotagging - http://www.icanstalku.com/

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