I'm not writing this to scare you, and I'm not saying abandon this forum. This is simply a warning, and a plea for you all to be careful. With all the new phones these days are coming a slew of new features. Nice, high-resolution cameras, features that make them easier to use, and GPS devices in the phones themselves. I've seen a lot of people taking pictures with their phones of activities and projects, and posting to this site. So, as a part of my lurking, I had been thinking about security, and I was sitting on my porch and fiddling with my phone and I took a picture of the beautiful sunset. I noticed that my phone's GPS was turned on, and that got me thinking. After a bit of fiddling, I found that the pictures I take with my phone (An android device, which I opted IN to google's anonymous GPS data collection bit with.) are tagged with EXIF data that includes my Co-ordinates that can be quickly looked up online with a free service such as this. Watch yourselves guys, this may be a nice place to have a chat, but it's also a high-ranking, easily found online board. I can't help but think that there is a possibility that LEO could conceivably use the pictures you post against you, especially if they're strapped for cash in this economy. PLEASE. Take two seconds and check your pictures through an EXIF viewer before you post them here. It may be a hassle, but what is your safety worth?
Yeah I was about to take photos of the start of my grow and turned it off(i usually remember where I take my photos anyway so...)
are there any risks with a regular digital camera? like, say, a Kodak or something that i just upload to my computer?
I think the best way is to use the freeware program Exifer, Exifer for Windows It edits Exif info without harming the picture (recompressing it), and it *CAN* remove Exif info...in the program just click on the picture (after you are in the right directory), click on the Exif menu and then "Remove"...that's all that's needed to delete the Exif info (including the Exif thumbnail) from a picture.
Nice this could be a good sticky imo. A lot of people probably dont realize that their gps coordinates can be hidden in their pics. This is a good heads up for people wanting to do future grow journals without much knowledge of EXIF data. i had heard of these before on the outdoor section about iphone pics and it has been the only thing keeping me from starting a journal.