Posting A Photo? Read Here First!

ScubaFinder

Bronze Member
Jul 11, 2006
2,220
530
Tampa, FL
Detector(s) used
AquaPulse AQ1B - AquaPulse DX-200 Magnetometer
Primary Interest:
Shipwrecks
I found that if you have a GPS enabled Cell Phone, and you take pics of your new find, the GPS coordinates of your find are available to anyone who can see the picture!!!! There is a header with information called Meta Data at the front of every image file. Phones with GPS include this data in the header, and it can easily be read with Photoshop and a few free tools available online. We should all be VERY CAREFUL when taking pics from GPS enabled cell phones, especially at our secret dig sites! I almost gave away my site that has been giving up Indian bone tools and pre-forms.

Here is a link explaining how to turn GPS tagging off in today's most popular phones.
I Can Stalk U - Raising awareness about inadvertent information sharing

Here's what the U.S. Military recently told it's Soldiers:
"But soldiers who upload photos to Facebook "could broadcast the exact location of their unit," wrote Rodewig, citing Steve Warren, an administrative officer in the intelligence office of the Army's Maneuver Center of Excellence (MCoE). Warren gave Rodewig a chilling example of the consequences of geo-tagging:

When a new fleet of helicopters arrived with an aviation unit at a base in Iraq, some soldiers took pictures on the flightline, he said. From the photos that were uploaded to the Internet, the enemy was able to determine the exact location of the helicopters inside the compound and conduct a mortar attack, destroying four of the AH-64 Apaches."

http://www.technolog.msnbc.msn.com/t...an-kill-405150

Special Thanks to LostCauses for originally bringing this to my attention.
 

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Here is a picture taken from my favorite Tilapia fishing hole, taken with my iPhone 3GS

tilapia.jpg
 

Here is the data available in the header of that image! Note the text in RED!

<?xpacket begin="" id="W5M0MpCehiHzreSzNTczkc9d"?>
<x:xmpmeta xmlns:x="adobe:ns:meta/" x:xmptk="Adobe XMP Core 4.2.2-c063 53.352624, 2008/07/30-18:12:18 ">
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
<rdfescription rdf:about=""
xmlns:xmp="Adobe XMP: Adding intelligence to media
<xmp:CreatorTool>5.0.1</xmp:CreatorTool>
<xmp:ModifyDate>2012-03-09T17:00:23-05:00</xmp:ModifyDate>
<xmp:CreateDate>2012-01-28T16:49:51-05:00</xmp:CreateDate>
<xmp:MetadataDate>2012-03-09T17:00:23-05:00</xmp:MetadataDate>
</rdfescription>
<rdfescription rdf:about=""
xmlns:tiff="http://ns.adobe.com/tiff/1.0/">
<tiff:Orientation>1</tiff:Orientation>
<tiff:YCbCrPositioning>1</tiff:YCbCrPositioning>
<tiff:XResolution>720000/10000</tiff:XResolution>
<tiff:YResolution>720000/10000</tiff:YResolution>
<tiff:ResolutionUnit>2</tiff:ResolutionUnit>
<tiff:Make>Apple</tiff:Make>
<tiff:Model>iPhone 3GS</tiff:Model>
<tiff:NativeDigest>256,257,258,259,262,274,277,284 ,530,531,282,283,296,301</tiff:NativeDigest>
</rdfescription>
<rdfescription rdf:about=""
xmlns:exif="http://ns.adobe.com/exif/1.0/">
<exif:ExifVersion>0221</exif:ExifVersion>
<exif:FlashpixVersion>0100</exif:FlashpixVersion>
<exif:ColorSpace>1</exif:ColorSpace>
<exif:PixelXDimension>700</exif:PixelXDimension>
<exif:PixelYDimension>1069</exif:PixelYDimension>
<exifateTimeOriginal>2012-01-28T16:49:51-05:00</exifateTimeOriginal>
<exifateTimeDigitized>2012-01-28T16:49:51-05:00</exifateTimeDigitized>
<exif:ExposureTime>1/235</exif:ExposureTime>
<exif:FNumber>14/5</exif:FNumber>
<exif:ExposureProgram>2</exif:ExposureProgram>
<exif:ShutterSpeedValue>4355/553</exif:ShutterSpeedValue>
<exif:ApertureValue>2970854/1000000</exif:ApertureValue>
<exif:BrightnessValue>9288/1397</exif:BrightnessValue>
<exif:MeteringMode>1</exif:MeteringMode>
<exif:FocalLength>77/20</exif:FocalLength>
<exif:SensingMethod>2</exif:SensingMethod>
<exif:ExposureMode>0</exif:ExposureMode>
<exif:WhiteBalance>0</exif:WhiteBalance>
<exif:SceneCaptureType>0</exif:SceneCaptureType>
<exif:Sharpness>1</exif:Sharpness>
<exif:GPSLatitude>25,58.77N</exif:GPSLatitude>
<exif:GPSLongitude>80,9.11W</exif:GPSLongitude>
<exif:GPSAltitudeRef>0</exif:GPSAltitudeRef>
<exif:GPSAltitude>53938/4485</exif:GPSAltitude>
<exif:GPSTimeStamp>2012-01-28T21:49:51-05:00</exif:GPSTimeStamp>
<exif:GPSImgDirectionRef>T</exif:GPSImgDirectionRef>
<exif:GPSImgDirection>10141/78</exif:GPSImgDirection>

<exif:NativeDigest>36864,40960,40961,37121,37122,4 0962,40963,37510,40964,1E</exif:NativeDigest>
<exif:ComponentsConfiguration>
<rdf:Seq>
<rdf:li>1</rdf:li>
<rdf:li>2</rdf:li>
<rdf:li>3</rdf:li>
<rdf:li>0</rdf:li>
</rdf:Seq>
</exif:ComponentsConfiguration>
<exif:ISOSpeedRatings>
<rdf:Seq>
<rdf:li>64</rdf:li>
</rdf:Seq>
</exif:ISOSpeedRatings>
<exif:Flash rdfarseType="Resource">
<exif:Fired>False</exif:Fired>
<exif:Return>0</exif:Return>
<exif:Mode>0</exif:Mode>
<exif:Function>True</exif:Function>
<exif:RedEyeMode>False</exif:RedEyeMode>
</exif:Flash>
<exif:SubjectArea>
<rdf:Seq>
<rdf:li>1023</rdf:li>
<rdf:li>767</rdf:li>
<rdf:li>614</rdf:li>
<rdf:li>614</rdf:li>
</rdf:Seq>
</exif:SubjectArea>
</rdfescription>
<rdfescription rdf:about=""
xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">
<dc:format>image/jpeg</dc:format>
</rdfescription>
<rdfescription rdf:about=""
xmlnshotoshop="Adobe Photoshop CS5, our latest picture and image editor software
<photoshop:ColorMode>3</photoshop:ColorMode>
<photoshop:ICCProfile>sRGB IEC61966-2.1</photoshop:ICCProfile>
</rdfescription>
<rdfescription rdf:about=""
xmlns:xmpMM="Adobe XMP: Adding intelligence to media
xmlns:stEvt="Adobe XMP: Adding intelligence to media
<xmpMM:InstanceID>xmp.iid:5F801128336AE111ACD39099 FEB159A8</xmpMM:InstanceID>
<xmpMMocumentID>xmp.did:5D801128336AE111ACD39099FEB159A8 </xmpMMcumentID>
<xmpMM:OriginalDocumentID>xmp.did:5D801128336AE111 ACD39099FEB159A8</xmpMM:OriginalDocumentID>
<xmpMM:History>
<rdf:Seq>
<rdf:li rdfarseType="Resource">
<stEvt:action>created</stEvt:action>
<stEvt:instanceID>xmp.iid:5D801128336AE111ACD39099 FEB159A8</stEvt:instanceID>
<stEvt:when>2012-03-09T16:59:34-05:00</stEvt:when>
<stEvt:softwareAgent>Adobe Photoshop CS4 Windows</stEvt:softwareAgent>
</rdf:li>
<rdf:li rdfarseType="Resource">
<stEvt:action>saved</stEvt:action>
<stEvt:instanceID>xmp.iid:5E801128336AE111ACD39099 FEB159A8</stEvt:instanceID>
<stEvt:when>2012-03-09T16:59:34-05:00</stEvt:when>
<stEvt:softwareAgent>Adobe Photoshop CS4 Windows</stEvt:softwareAgent>
<stEvt:changed>/</stEvt:changed>
</rdf:li>
<rdf:li rdfarseType="Resource">
<stEvt:action>saved</stEvt:action>
<stEvt:instanceID>xmp.iid:5F801128336AE111ACD39099 FEB159A8</stEvt:instanceID>
<stEvt:when>2012-03-09T17:00:23-05:00</stEvt:when>
<stEvt:softwareAgent>Adobe Photoshop CS4 Windows</stEvt:softwareAgent>
<stEvt:changed>/</stEvt:changed>
</rdf:li>
</rdf:Seq>
</xmpMM:History>
</rdfscription>
</rdf:RDF>
</x:xmpmeta>
 

Clearly I don't know how to find you. I put the coords in Google maps and it says you are in the Philippines.

DCMatt
 

Clearly I don't know how to find you. I put the coords in Google maps and it says you are in the Philippines.
DCMatt

That is Odd Matt, when I feed them into Google Earth I get this! The yellow stick pin is my marker so I remember where I caught all the nice fish. The grey square with the coordinates is what the search returned. The photo was taken from about 3 feet closer to the water....accurate enough for my blood!
tilapia_hole.jpg
 

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Oh Matt, I think I figured it out, you must remove the comma's from the GPS numbers and add a zero in front of any single digits. 80,9.11 errors out, but 80 09.11 works perfectly.

Jason
 

One more reason I don't want an iPhone/Smartphone!
 

ScubaFinder, thanks for alerting all of us to this ugly reality! I want only friends & family to know where I am, and only my detecting buddy son to know my fave digging spots. Don't need phones that are smarter than I am babbling my whereabouts to the universe! Yep, I'm gonna stick to my minimalist dumb cell phone instead of upgrading! And for those of you already hi-tech, now you know how to disable broadcasting the GPS features to unknown folk. HH to all! btw, Good Looking Fish, yum! Andi
 

:thumb_up:I wish you luck. Hamid
 

I think mine is deactivated

See if it works on mine please . I have the original droid my camera has a record location option that is off. I love to and love it when people include site pics.
 

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Yours is off, the only meta data I saw was the record of me opening it in Photoshop. No worries for you!
 

See if it works on mine please . I have the original droid my camera has a record location option that is off. I love to and love it when people include site pics.
Nice looking dogs i bet they guard all of your relics good
 

See if it works on mine please . I have the original droid my camera has a record location option that is off. I love to and love it when people include site pics.
Relic Lover........remind me not to snoop around your yard........where ever it is ;)
 

Thats so wrong. So anyone can find you from a camera phone?
 

Not nessecarily....it has to be GPS enabled, and you have to have the feature on. Then, if you snap a fresh dig picture from your favorite spot and upload the pic to the internet....nerds like me can go in and find the GPD coordinates to your favorite spot. I can't track you (but rest assured big brother could if he wanted to) or find your current locale, but I can tell you where you were when you took a picture. There have been a few pictures in "Today's Finds" that held the location of the dig. I made this post to help inform people....if you are unsure, don't take pictures from your hunting spot, wait til you are home or at work.

Jason
 

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