[blam]

Excellent.

[Aliska]

A couple of the newer iphones and a camera embed GPS coordinates in your photos. If you post them online and have an exif reader, you can read the GPS coordinates that tell within less than one block or so where the photo was taken.

I tried it with an iphone photo sent to me, uploaded it, got the exif with my browser, went and found a website that converts GPS coordinates (- for west and south) into an address. From that, you can look up that address on mapquest or one of those sites.

There is a way to disable that feature but it wasn't a matter of just turning it on and off at will. It is one of those things that could be used for good or evil, but I can't help wondering why they would design so that additional information would be embeeded in a photo amd consider the possible dangers of revealing too much about your location to strangers on the web without even being aware of it.

It had to have been deliberate to go that far. Many photos reveal enough already but the exif is usually benign with camera settings, model and software. There is a way to save that will strip off the exif, or was, but those phone photos are not usually manipulated further in a graphics editor.

[ArmstedFragg]

Here in So. Cal, we had a guy who was wearing an ankle band pending deportation burglarize a house. Same outcome.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Glad it worked for the good guys in this case. Doesn't always work that way.

Gotta be careful...

Web Photos That Reveal Secrets, Like Where You Live
August 12, 2010

When Adam Savage, host of the popular science program “MythBusters,” posted a picture on Twitter of his automobile parked in front of his house, he let his fans know much more than that he drove a Toyota Land Cruiser.

Embedded in the image was a geotag, a bit of data providing the longitude and latitude of where the photo was taken. Hence, he revealed exactly where he lived. And since the accompanying text was “Now it’s off to work,” potential thieves knew he would not be at home.

[Tainan]

Suspects Jason Hamlin, Justin Hamlin, and Zachary Mckinzie,

WHEN YUPPIE KIDS GO BAD !!!

[Moltke]

From cell phones to cell mates...

[ConservativeWarrior]

As I read the article, I feared it would reveal that GPS was used by the police to track the burglars’ personal cell phones, linking them with the pattern of burglaries.

That didn't turn out to be the case, but how far are we from having our Onstar and GPS-cellphone records subpoenaed?

[rawhide]

Neat! Reminds of the woman who had her pictures automatically uploaded from her stolen laptop, which was taking pictures of the thief.