Smartphone pictures pose privacy risks

    • Moderator
    • 16870 posts
    April 13, 2011 5:18 AM PDT

  • April 13, 2011 5:53 AM PDT
    I just love the way that the media sensationalizes everything on the internet as a threat! Yeah someone can see that a picture was taken of the kid at the park... before this amazing technology couldn't the person had just gone to the park and seen all the kids that play there?

    Kind of reminds me when there was all the hoopla about entering yor credit card number on the internet... oh my that's way to scary, let me call the motel instead and give my credit card info to some dimwit I don't know over the phone.
    • 5420 posts
    April 13, 2011 6:12 AM PDT
    Got to kind of agree with you there SST, to an extent.  Yes there is a lot of unjustified fear of any new technology... like the credit card situation you mentioned.  Yes, people have been able to find little kids (or anyone for that matter) just by hanging out at schools, parks, etc, but if a weirdo was attempting to locate the child of a certian family, this would provide a means to do that.

    As with any situation in life, you can't just stop going places or using certain technology, you just need to make sure you exercise a reasonble amount of caution and use some common sense.
    • Moderator
    • 16870 posts
    April 13, 2011 6:38 AM PDT
    After I became a victim of "identity theft" a few years back I look at the whole of modern technology in a different light.
    Call me paranoid, but until someone is personally effected they have no idea.
    • 9 posts
    April 13, 2011 11:10 AM PDT
    Makes me glad I'm too dumb for a smart phone.
    • 0 posts
    April 13, 2011 11:24 AM PDT
    Dont worry me to much.The "bad guys" know where to find me,they just choose not to for some strange reason..
    • 2072 posts
    April 13, 2011 11:37 AM PDT
    I used to worry about someone hacking into my bank accounts. That I saw my balance and thought..... IF someone did hack into them they would feel sorry for me and might make a deposit for me !!!!!!
    • 5420 posts
    April 13, 2011 2:16 PM PDT
    I know the feeling Rob. I could just hear the thief who steels my card cussing when the card is declined for a $25 purchase!!!
    • 3006 posts
    April 13, 2011 3:02 PM PDT
    Thanks for the heads up Rev !!! There are a lot of people out there who have no clue as to how exposed they truly are.Big brother loves this sort of tech,too bad such things often fall into the wrong hands,which makes me wonder why the phones do not come with some sort of warning?
  • April 13, 2011 3:37 PM PDT
    If they did, that would tend to scare some away from purchasing. Can't have that. Ignorance is bliss, and some people love it. Sure, I have a cell, and I carry it with me for PHONE calls. Mainly for emergency use. I hate the dang things.
    • Moderator
    • 16870 posts
    April 13, 2011 7:16 PM PDT
    I ended up with a cell phone a few years ago do to health issues my wife and I have.
    This thing is so low tech is almost like a long distance walky talky.

    I'm not anti-progress, I got stung real hard by some cyber thief just because I used my debit card to buy work pants for my nephew. Some nameless faceless sneak thief hacked the signal and my info during the satellite transfer.
    There was no Life-Lock at that time, the store, bank, FDIC, Attorney General, FBI, nobody would help, I even tried to get legal help through the VA.
    If it had been a mugger, car-jacker, home invader, etc.I could have dealt with swiftly and cleanly.
  • April 14, 2011 2:44 AM PDT
    I am not a geek but do have a share of tech tools. I hate the built-in obsoletetion of the cell phone by the service providers. The battery was failing in the cellphone. New is $50.00. I can get a new phone (again) free but I need to purchase 2 services to use the phone. We now have more "Units" of rollover use than we could use in a month as all calls are free. We don't text or check mail with the phone (voice is faster than the thumbs) so we don't need all of the "Services" in the new phone. If you use the new phone you need to buy the service that we wouldn't use??? WE JUST WANT A CELLPHONE AND A CELLPHONE SERVICE. ! ! ! Bought a new battery.
    • 9 posts
    April 15, 2011 1:50 PM PDT
    Makes me glad I don't have young children. Or a "Smartphone". We all know big brother's watching, but so apparently is his pedophiliac evil twin. Scary.
  • April 17, 2011 9:28 PM PDT
    Here are instructions for disabling geotagging in various smartphones. You can also remove properties from pictures to get rid of the GPS data. (It's also possible to remove properties from videos but GPS data is usually not embedded in them anyway).
    • 5420 posts
    April 18, 2011 12:49 AM PDT
    Good info Legmo - thanks for posting it.
    • Moderator
    • 1516 posts
    April 18, 2011 1:47 AM PDT
    You can never be to careful with the media sites, I am glad most people are over the actual posting of everything place they go and what they are doing. Now the phone just does it for you. I think I took one pic once and posted it.