Home / Blog
Written by: 2/24/2011 7:30 AM
I took a lot of pictures a while ago on a week-long trip to Banff, AB (a.k.a. Possibly The Most Beautiful Place on Earth). Lake Louise, the Rocky Mountains, blooming summer flowers, wild caribou—all worth capturing on film.
And, of course, where do enviable vacation pictures always wind up? Facebook, of course—so all your “friends” can live vicariously through your good time.
Lots of my Facebook buddies looked at those pictures and asked me where I was when I took this shot or that shot. And apparently, now they can find out for themselves. A GPS function within newer cameras and smartphones often embeds geotag data in each picture, so my friends could easily discover where I was standing when I took the photo—with a right click and a little research.
Very cool and seemingly harmless, right?
Fast forward from Banff to last week, when I posted some adorable pictures of my adorable child doing something adorable—inside our house. And, just like the vacation photos, a little extra research on each photo would allow anyone to pinpoint where the picture was taken. In my neighborhood. On my street. In my home.
Ok…now I’m a little freaked out. The geotags are just as good as posting my address for all to see.
With all of the technological advances in phones, cameras, televisions, and computers, this one seems…well, a little oily. I definitely don’t want everyone to know where I live, or where I ate dinner last night with my girlfriends, or where my family spends our downtime together.
If I post a photo of a valuable item for sale on Craigslist, I don’t want anyone to know where that item is stored.
The solution? Outside of keeping all of your photos safe on your phone, never to be viewed by the public, there may not be a firm solution. Technology is advancing so we can feed our addiction for constant contact and communication. I really want my mom to see the latest photos of my child and I really want to sell that old table on Craigslist.
But, as with most things of this kind, awareness is the key—and a little Internet research can give you tips on how to disable any geotagging functionality in your cameras and smartphones.
Read (and watch) more about it here:
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/technology&id=7620926
0 comment(s) so far...