Can computer masterminds
scan a picture on the internet , and obtain information about geographic locations, and the time a picture was taken ?

example:
Carter buys a new gun safe, he loads it up with all his gun stuff and takes a picture of the safe and its contents,
then
posts that on a forum .

can info then be obtained from that picture ?

EXIF Metadata. Short answer. Yes.

https://readexifdata.com/

Short answer, yes.

Long answer, it depends. Has the photo still got all the info still attached to it? One can remove the info, or tell their phone/camera not to record it.

Sure, people poured over ISIL photos and sent suspected coordinates to the Russians. EXIF data is an easier way to find out.

Maybe is a better answer...When you say 'the internet', that is a vast entity.

Facebook and most news sites strip exif data when photos are uploaded. Some other sites do as well, so the answer is - if the exif data is present, then yes. If you take a photo and scan it and then upload it, there is no exif data either, so many of the pictures you see on the internet will not have exif data attached.

https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/exif-privacy/13356/

quote:

Originally posted by myrottiety:
EXIF Metadata. Short answer. Yes.

https://readexifdata.com/

I tried this with my phone and camera I use for ad pictures. It correctly identified time, date, image size and the device that took it, but there was no location data for either device.

quote:

Originally posted by Blackmore:

quote:

Originally posted by myrottiety:
EXIF Metadata. Short answer. Yes.

https://readexifdata.com/

I tried this with my phone and camera I use for ad pictures. It correctly identified time, date, image size and the device that took it, but there was no location data for either device.

You can turn geotagging on or off on your phone. You must have it turned off.

Very often the answer is yes. Locating and dating images is one of the things I do for a living these days.

quote:

Originally posted by copaup:
Very often the answer is yes. Locating and dating images is one of the things I do for a living these days.

Ever go back for a second date?

I take images only with a digital camera. I use an image hosting site set to restricted/private. I just checked my albums. The only information for each image is date taken, camera model and settings when image was taken.

I delete images that I post on the internet shortly thereafter. I'm sure there's someone sitting in his mother's basement right now working on how to find me.

This is a concern on sites like Craigslist. I recall stories of where people advertise a sale item, and crooks were able to locate the home's location and target it for burglary. . .

quote:

Originally posted by Hound Dog:
This is a concern on sites like Craigslist. I recall stories of where people advertise a sale item, and crooks were able to locate the home's location and target it for burglary. . .

Yay, Craiglist fears.

Surely these ingenious crooks could look up an address independently, or just drive around.

But no, they most definitely are so refined and sub specialized that they are looking not for any easy score, but for the very specific toolbox/bike/car/doo-dad that I'm selling and they use Craigslist as a shopping tool.

I'll go with "maybe". Some cameras have a GPS receiver in them and put the coordinates of the location into the EXIF data; others don't have that feature. Some folks (like me) carry a GPS logger with them and put the coordinates into their pictures as a separate step. Most web sites that host pictures will allow the removal of the location data if that is desired. Some upload applications do that automatically (if desired).

So--if having location data imbedded in the EXIF of your photos is of concern to you, I recommend you check them to see if it's there and remove it. I strongly recommend removal from any photos detailing where you live, and where your children may have been.

flashguy

I didn't even know what EXIF was, thanks for pointing that out. I just checked my image hosting site again. The EXIF has no coordinates that I can see. I must have unknowingly turned it off when I set the album to restricted/private.

quote:

Originally posted by JimTheo:

quote:

Originally posted by copaup:
Very often the answer is yes. Locating and dating images is one of the things I do for a living these days.

Ever go back for a second date?

Nah. Most of the images I have to deal with ain’t real pretty to look at. I’m only in it for the money and repeat customers suck.