When you take a picture from your cellphone you can tell people a lot more than the date stamp.
GPS information can be recorded as part of the Exif, or exchangeable image file format, that is has been the de facto digital photo standard since 1998. Among the other information it saves is what allows you to see a thumbnail of a photo you’ve taken or a photo’s date and time. It can be found with a simple right click on the properties section of the picture, and it’s easily accessible in a number of places on the Internet, but not all, where people share their photos.
Some social networks don’t accept location information or Exif information at all. So when you upload it, even if it does have location information, it’s not going to show it to anybody. Facebook strips the location information but other social networking sites are a different story. Services like Flickr do allow location information, so does the popular Twitpic. The good news is you can protect yourself. Most sites have some sort of privacy control, allowing you to manage the information that gets out there.
To avoid having your friends reveal your location on Facebook.
- Go to your Facebook account.
- Click Account in the top right corner.
- Click Privacy Settings.
- Click Customize settings in the Sharing on Facebook section,
- Scroll to Things others share and make the option next to Friends can check me into Places read “Disabled.”
To disable tagging on handhelds and phones:
– http://ICanStalkU.com provides step-by-step instructions for disabling geotagging on iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Palm devices.