Geotagged by iPhone

The iPhone geotaggs pictures. You can read more about geotagging here.

This information is stored in the EXIF data, included in the JPEG file. This means that anyone with access to the image file, can see where the image was taken. Privacy issues ensues.

By searching google images for "iphone self portrait", I quickly found the images below. Then using either the Exif viewer add-on for Firefox, or, if you have a mac - the Preview application, you can find a direct link to the location where the picture was taken.


Usally there would be no problem, but I am not sure everyone are aware of how much information they are actually sharing by uploading geotagged images to the web. Luckily there are ways to strip the image file of the EXIF data. I will tell you about this later, but first, a few images:

 

This picture was uploaded to the web with all EXIF information intact.

Exif GPS IFD

    * GPS Latitude Reference = N
    * GPS Latitude = 26/1,3832/100,0/1 [degrees, minutes, seconds] ===> 26° 38.32′
    * GPS Longitude Reference = W
    * GPS Longitude = 80/1,1495/100,0/1 [degrees, minutes, seconds] ===> 80° 14.95′
    * Links to online mapping websites:
          o Google™ Maps
          o Yahoo!® Maps
          o MSN® Maps & Directions
          o Mapquest®
          o Open KML data with Google™ Earth
          o Save KML data to file
          o Save KML data to file and open with Google™ Earth
    * GPS Time Stamp / UTC Time = 12/1,24/1,202/100 [hours, minutes, seconds] ===> 12h 24m 2.02s

Try following one of the map links, and you´ll find the location where this picture was taken.



Here are a few other examples:

 

Location

Twitter is another place where people often upload geotagged pictures. 

  

This picture was taken in germany  

Another picture, with semi-nude male showed this location

So, obviously there are some issues with privacy here. It might be a good idea to remove the EXIF. 

Here is how:

For Mac: iPhoto Exif Cleaner

For Windows: Exif Remover