Remove EXIF info before you post images ANYWHERE.

ok, sorry to be alarmist, but i've gotta share this:

STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND GO CHECK THE EXIF FILE ON ALL YOUR UPLOADED PHOTOS RIGHT NOW!

ICM says they strip all your metadata off of anything you upload.

SKIP said:

NOPE, only if it resizes it... We have told this time and again. Glad you finally discovered your own lapse of security.

Follow our guidelines, and edit your pic b4 you post it. It will load up much faster and strip out the exif that you guys continue to record at your own risk! You can stop your camera from recording this, we cannot control what your camera records.

It's All UP TO YOU, not us, to ensure your own security. We are not imageshack. We don't want you uploading huge, unedited images here.

Select ONLY your best images to post on icmag and edit them and put a COPYRIGHT NOTICE ON IT.

NEVER UPLOAD RIGHT FROM YOUR CAMERA! No matter where you are posting them. Don't be lazy.

This is just COMMON SENSE, folks.

Click to expand...

it appears that this is not always the case. i'm pretty diligent about making sure i scrub my photos before uploading them. i'm only human though. it occurred to me the other day that i might have posted something that was taken with someone else's equipment. when i re-downloaded it from ICM, guess what? there was location information right in it for anyone to see who has logged more than 30 minutes behind a keyboard. i freaked the fuck out and removed all my photos right away. it took awhile. i would have posted this earlier, but i wanted to clear my own slate before throwing up a flag that my location might still be there.

i'm not suggesting that any of you delete your accounts or take down all your photos, but i am suggesting two things:

1. go back and download all your photos off icmag. check them all to see what metadata they still contain. edit as needed. this is ridiculously easy to do. just google "view exif (name of your operating system here)."

2. be airtight about making sure that you only upload clean images. for new stuff, this should be as simple as changing the geotag settings on your camera or phone. for older material, it's just a matter copying a few lines into your terminal/command prompt.

i don't want to see anyone get fucked off over a simple oversight.

in fairness, each of us needs to be responsible for operating in a secure fashion. gypsy, skip and company provide a great forum and do their best to keep it safe, but ultimately, no matter whose fuck up it is, if your sensitive information winds up trasmitted over the internets, you're the only one getting jacked up for it.

There are freeware programs that can strip exif data from pics. If you have PhotoShop, it'll strip EXIF for you as long as you "save for web."

Thanks for posting.

what a coincidence. Here is a story posted today that describes an anonymous hacker getting busted by posting pictures of his girlfriends titties and a smart mouth message as part of one of his hacks. He forgot the exif gps data. I have an older digital camera that doesn't add much exif data, and I force myself to only post pictures taken with it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-girlfriend-posts-picture-breasts-online.html

On this site about a year back, I posted my first pics ever( clueless about exif). Dude pm'd me my Coordinates within 70 yards of my place. Needless to say ill never ever take photos with a phone again lol.

The phone pics are a real problem. Never use one IMO even if its for yourself. Get a cheap Digital camera to use. These will not have location data unless they have GPS in them. My Nikon DSLR has the firmware for GPS but needs a add on unit.. I know this site will remove any Exif data when you upload but to be safe do it yourself. I check pic that members upload sometimes and there's never any Data that would help anyone find you.

i bought like 4000 worth of new camera stuff . but use an oldschool dumb one. atleast i hope so LOL if a member finds my addy you better show up with goodies. if the cops bring doughnuts i got the coffee.

foaf said:

what a coincidence. Here is a story posted today that describes an anonymous hacker getting busted by posting pictures of his girlfriends titties and a smart mouth message as part of one of his hacks. He forgot the exif gps data. I have an older digital camera that doesn't add much exif data, and I force myself to only post pictures taken with it.

Click to expand...

And they were NICE titties. Shame someone else is gonna be suckin' on 'em for the next few yrs. I loves nice titties - the only things that will get me OUTTA bed and INTO bed in the same morning.

Mmmmm - pics of nice titties are good, too.

http://www.superutils.com/products/exifcleaner/

http://www.digitalconfidence.com/downloads.html

more involved program for OSx or Linux

http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/

Good advice here. Think before you upload!

BTW, we have been advising ppl to remove EXIF info for many years, in fact, it's right in the Security Do's and Don'ts Sticky here:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=134365

Remember this: ANY UNEDITED image is likely to contain EXIF, so NEVER upload an unedited image unless you want to show your EXIF info to all.

So why act like it's some kind of ICMAG security breach, when the security breach is on the User's end?

Thanks for taking the time to explain this again Skip.....