An old-school habit, labelling the back of photos, has transitioned into something more appropriate for the digital age. These days, one needn\u2019t scribble comments on a photo; your camera, an image-editing app, or the service you use to post your photo will add information for you.<\/p>\n
This kind of photo information is more comprehensive than the likes of \u201c2016 New Year\u2019s party at our place.\u201d Besides more esoteric attributes such as focal length and flash mode, the \u201cnote\u201d might contain the model and serial number of the camera, the date of the photo, and, more important, geolocation data \u2014 where the picture was taken. Moreover, the service used to post you photo online will record the IP address you used to upload the picture.<\/p>\n
Even if you are not highly concerned about privacy, having that much information attached to a photo may not sit easily with you. It can be used to track you down, and to find more photos taken by you \u2014 and perhaps find some private pics among them.<\/p>\n
Searching photo metadata is a method of doxxing<\/a>, which is the practice of gathering real-world data, such as the real name and home address, on a person of interest online.<\/p>\n One of the main metadata collectors is the EXIF block that is added to graphic files. The Exchangeable Image File Format<\/a> standard was developed by the Japanese Electronics and IT Association (JEITA) and first published in 1995. EXIF was developed for JPEG and TIFF files. Other popular formats such as PNG and GIF might also contain similar metadata \u2014 in particular, Adobe\u2019s XMP-based metadata. Moreover, camera vendors might use a proprietary metadata format, partially redundant with EXIF.<\/p>\n Embedded metadata, at times forgotten or ignored, can present a problem to both authors and the people in photographs. One of the most prominent examples of metadata being used in a manner not intended by a photographer is the apprehension of John McAfee in Guatemala in 2012. While on the run from criminal prosecution for the alleged murder of his neighbour, McAfee was interviewed by Vice, which also published his portrait. The photo\u2019s metadata included a geotag<\/a> that law enforcement used to catch McAfee.<\/p>\n Ooops. #Vice<\/a> forgot to clean (or faked?) the GPS-location from the EXIF-tag on their picture with #McAffee<\/a> : http:\/\/t.co\/Ycmb7ShQ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Frank Rieger (@frank_rieger) December 3, 2012<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n