Smart Phone info you need to know!

[W.R.Buchanan]

I always knew that there were dangers associated with using a Smart Phone or any other cell phone for that matter. How many times do we see in action movies where the Sim card and battery are taken out of a phone when you are being tracked by sophisticated assets. I hope anyone here who needs to go "on the lamb," would have the presence of mind to ditch their phone.

I however did not know that smart phone pics which you post to the internet can have GPS data linked to the picture, and the location where that pic was taken can be extracted easily.

Abby Cornell of Cornell Publishing purveyor of all things "Vintage Gun Catalog" posted this video on her monthly newsletter.

I found it "interesting."

I think you will too!

Hope this brings some useful awareness to you, or more properly your kids, who seem to be obsessed with posting pictures to Facebook and the like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvZF-yP_ceU

Randy

[smokeywolf]

Thanks for the heads up. Although I don't do a lot of photo sharing, this is very valuable info that I was not aware of.

[Changeling]

Can getting location information (coordinates) be done by taknig pictures with a camera, loading them to ones computer and sending them to a web site like this one for instance?

I found your post/warning extremely interesting to say the least. Thank you very much.

[pretzelxx]

I'll be stalking some people now! Not really, just looking at a few places they visit!

[uscra112]

Can getting location information (coordinates) be done by taknig pictures with a camera, loading them to ones computer and sending them to a web site like this one for instance?

I found your post/warning extremely interesting to say the least. Thank you very much.

If the camera is GPS enabled, apparently yes. The metadata stays with the picture in the same file.

Wish I could get daughter #2 to quit posting a dozen photos a week of her kids on Faceplant. Anybody who wanted to line her family up for a home invasion would have everything they needed to know.

[cbrick]

Interesting for sure. Yet another reason I fired the cell phone company when I retired.

Rick

[David2011]

On the iPhone the GPS data is only embedded in the picture if "Location Services" is enabled. Turning off location services also makes the battery last much longer. I have no experience with other makes of smart phones. Some of the newer cameras also have wireless abilities and the same risks as smart phones.

David

[trucker76]

If the camera is GPS enabled, apparently yes. The metadata stays with the picture in the same file.

Wish I could get daughter #2 to quit posting a dozen photos a week of her kids on Faceplant. Anybody who wanted to line her family up for a home invasion would have everything they needed to know.

Lol, that's nothing. Borrowed the inlaws truck for a few days. On the keyring there is the truck key, house key, and his photo and address from an old drivers license he trimmed and punched a hole in. I asked him what in gods name was he thinking. It was priceless, he replied "so if I lose my keys and someone finds them they'll know where to send them" [smilie=b: . I calmly informed him that if, just if, someone more nefarious finds them they know right where to go to steal the truck they found the keys for as well as rob the house. Hell they could load stuff in his truck in broad daylight and drive away and if anyone asked could give his name and description saying they were friends helping him move stuff. Specially considering they go to Florida for the entire winter and leave the truck at the house here. SMH

[freebullet]

Certainly interesting thanks for sharing.

[nhrifle]

Thanks for posting. Checked my phone and my settings are good, but it's nice to be aware.

[lwknight]

Its not hard to wipe metadata from a jpg if you want too. Most photo editors will not save metadata when you make any type edit.

[dragon813gt]

First thing I did when I got an iPhone was turn off location services. The camera never has access to it. And only a few programs have access to it when I turn it on(for a short period). If you are just finding this out then you are years behind. And its good to remind others of this. Metadata is easily erased if you wanted it to be. Entering fake metadata is the somewhat hard part.

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

one of the things that really torque me on this issue is,
they will freely distribute your location data without your knowledge or consent
but make you pay to access the GPS service if you want to use. BASTURDS!

[dragon813gt]

Who charges for GPS use? Unless its buried somewhere in the bill. I haven't been able to find it. There is no additional charge for using GPS on my iPhone.

[Changeling]

I think I'm going to get some "Pigeons", eat the ones that don't deliver and keep the ones that do, LAL!

I can see it all now: 44MAN you have a PM (Pigeon Message), it's on Fly Boy's leg, please respond.

PS. Please don't eat the darn pigeon this time!

[jonp]

I read about this last year and it was my understanding that you had to have the gps turned on for this to happen. Also, just removing the battery renders the phone inert

[trucker76]

I read about this last year and it was my understanding that you had to have the gps turned on for this to happen. Also, just removing the battery renders the phone inert

A lot of phones now have a non removable battery. In any case I don't sweat it. I drove truck over the road and at any time they knew where I was, how fast I was going, if I had a hard brake, if my cruise was on, how long I had been driving, etc. My personal movements are not really important enough to track. Also I use google maps on my phone for gps when I'm out riding my bike. Should I run my bike off the road and be seriously injured it's nice to know when I don't come home my ol lady can go online and see where I am.

[Wayne Smith]

One of a myriad of reasons why I do not upload photos except here, do not have a GPS, and (horror of horrors) actually use maps!

[trucker76]

One of a myriad of reasons why I do not upload photos except here, do not have a GPS, and (horror of horrors) actually use maps!

I have used an atlas quite extensively, but having city maps for every city I have gone to or will go to would be inefficient.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I see that this thread has raised the awareness of the community to some degree.

This was my purpose in posting it.

Just because you have a "Smart Phone" and only know how to use a few functions doesn't mean that the rest of the functions aren't working as well.

I only got mine a couple of months ago. I can make calls, take pics, and possibly send a text message if I try real hard.

I just bought the wife a new VW Passat Diesel last week, and it makes a smart phone look simple. It is essentially a rolling PC, and has functions that if you don't know about them will stop you dead in your tracks.

We got the Alarm system turned on last week and it has a mind of it's own, The car also has the VW equivalent of "On Star," and if you mistakenly hit that button they come and run you down with a tow truck!

I really long for the days of normal phones and cars. I love the PC but as far as I'm concerned they could have stopped development about 2001.

One Law I really feel they should pass is to make it mandatory that all functions of a phone must be enabled by you and you must opt "into" anything, as opposed to having to turn stuff off you didn't even know was turned on, or opt out of something that got sent to you that you didn't request or got sent you because you didn't read the fine print on a stupid email before you clicked on it.

This seems like common sense to me or should I just say,,, ***!

Nobody needs this krap, if you want it then fine it is available, but if you don't want it you shouldn't have to go thru a bunch of BS to stop it, in fact you shouldn't have to do anything because you shouldn't have been sent the stuff in the first place.

Just me steaming off.

Randy

[trucker76]

We got the Alarm system turned on last week and it has a mind of it's own


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhh5cUK4DGc

[smokeywolf]

Randy, you might want to check and see if your vehicle or travel information is being collected and disseminated to God knows who, by your new VW computer. I've heard/read that everything on your computer and GPS can and probably is being given to any gov't. agency or dept. who asks for it and of course there's the marketing companies who instead of using legal threats to acquire your info, actually pay dollars for it.

smokeywolf

[Epd230]

I was told awhile back, that all digital photos had the coordinates embedded in them. No difference if the photo was taken by a camera or phone, or any settings on the phone.

[trucker76]

I was told awhile back, that all digital photos had the coordinates embedded in them. No difference if the photo was taken by a camera or phone, or any settings on the phone.

The digital camera would need to have gps capabilities built into it or it will not know the coordinates to embed in the metadata.

[MaryB]

Under a recent Android update google keeps turning location services on even if you have it off. I turn it off 3-4 times a day. Must frustrate the NSA... the first company that comes out with a smart phone that is affordable with all that **** disabled will make a mint.

[jonp]

Gee Mary, mine doesn't seem to do that?

[starmac]

My phone doesn't have a camera, so far I have managed without a gps, even driving over the road. I managed for a lot of years without a cell phone at all.

[kawasakifreak77]

I see that this thread has raised the awareness of the community to some degree.

This was my purpose in posting it.

Just because you have a "Smart Phone" and only know how to use a few functions doesn't mean that the rest of the functions aren't working as well.

I only got mine a couple of months ago. I can make calls, take pics, and possibly send a text message if I try real hard.

I just bought the wife a new VW Passat Diesel last week, and it makes a smart phone look simple. It is essentially a rolling PC, and has functions that if you don't know about them will stop you dead in your tracks.

We got the Alarm system turned on last week and it has a mind of it's own, The car also has the VW equivalent of "On Star," and if you mistakenly hit that button they come and run you down with a tow truck!

I really long for the days of normal phones and cars. I love the PC but as far as I'm concerned they could have stopped development about 2001.

One Law I really feel they should pass is to make it mandatory that all functions of a phone must be enabled by you and you must opt "into" anything, as opposed to having to turn stuff off you didn't even know was turned on, or opt out of something that got sent to you that you didn't request or got sent you because you didn't read the fine print on a stupid email before you clicked on it.

This seems like common sense to me or should I just say,,, ***!

Nobody needs this krap, if you want it then fine it is available, but if you don't want it you shouldn't have to go thru a bunch of BS to stop it, in fact you shouldn't have to do anything because you shouldn't have been sent the stuff in the first place.

Just me steaming off.

Randy

Amen brother!

I'm new to the robot phone thing & am really wondering what I'm carrying around in my pocket.

I turn off as many things as I can while still being able to use the stinkin' thing.

[Garyshome]

I didn't know that, thanks for the info.