Web Photos That Reveal Secrets, Like Where You Live

[M4Shadow]

When Adam Savage, host of the popular science program

[eeyore]

Privacy is a big deal, for some and it should be for all. We are taught to be good little automons for public school. Never question authority, even when it is wrong.

Thanks for the post i had no idea, but i don't have a phone capable of taking pictures, but i don't miss the point.

There is very little anonymity any more, from the people that understand how to get the info. I was kind of happy about the back lash to google's street views, but it will be accepted soon. Sorry to sound so cynical.

[Lowdown3]

We have 2000 era cell phones. They take pics but not good ones. One thing I've always noticed traveling is that 90% of the time, the phone will reset the time within 1 MILE of crossing a time zone.

Good to know about the tags, thanks. Why the hell would they put crap like that in there????

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Good to know about the tags, thanks. Why the hell would they put crap like that in there????

Because they can and if they can do it first, they can sell more phones. Welcome to the 21st century.

[eeyore]

The GPS stuff (in phones) happened first in the Nextel phones i think. 10 years ago it was sold to the construction industry as if your man has a problem and can't be found, the phone can find him and "save" him. 4 years ago i went to the office for the yearly evaluation, and the boss pulled up on the screen (using my Nextel) of his computer and told me what time i passed this town and another one on my way to work. Then what time i arrived at work and when i left. Some of the Superintendents (and Project managers) where going awol and blaming it on phones not working (hah, original) it is amazing how it was always Monday mornings and Friday afternoons.

To make a long story shorter, they could only tract me (at the time) to the closer radio tower, probably much improved since then.

Now with a GPS in every (at least most) vehicles, they won't turn back.

[FM18]

If I remember correctly, it is now a federal requirment for all 911 dispatch centers and cell phone companies to install the software to track you should you dial 911. My phone which is not a smart phone, has a feature where you can turn the GPS on or off for regular calls but will automaticaly turn it on for 911 calls. The smaller 911 dispatch centers are still trying to catch up with the times though and must triangulate off of three closest cell towers. The best systems can now get to about a 100 yards of where you are at when you dial 911. The question is though, can Big Brother turn on your cell phone to track you when he wants too or not... Every time you use your cell phone though even with GPS turned off, there is a record on file with your cell phone provider that tells you what the closest tower was that that call was made through...

[Crazy Scout Daddy]

The question is though, can Big Brother turn on your cell phone to track you when he wants too or not...

During my time serving this fine country I had the oppurtunity to use some technology that allowed us to track cell phones as long as they were on. We had tech all the way down to hand held units that would walk us right in. It is very scary especially considering that the gear we were using was pretty old already.

[pixur]

The geottaging can be turned off, and for pics you've already taken when it was on you can use this freeware to strip metadata from them prior to publishing them.

[1Admin]

Thanks Pixur.

[mtncharlie]

During my time serving this fine country I had the oppurtunity to use some technology that allowed us to track cell phones as long as they were on. We had tech all the way down to hand held units that would walk us right in. It is very scary especially considering that the gear we were using was pretty old already.

On some of the newer phones, the GPS is never off. The only way to disable it is to remove the battery, and I am getting disturbing news that they will start putting GPS in with its own battery that you can't remove - Big Brother at his finest.