Hidden fingerprint in photos?
- Thread starter Buckman
- Start date
- Nov 11, 2009
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It’s not new. If you are editing your photos and look on information you see lots of data and that’s become location sensitive as gps was introduced into cameras and phones. Even more worrying should be the minute packages of software embedded in emails or websites. Some sit in the companies logo or other obscure spots. These aren’t the normal cookies either. And folks get twitched about the security services wanting access to data. I know who I’d rather have looking at my data, and it’s not a commercial enterprise like Google et al.
- Jul 18, 2017
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- Nov 11, 2009
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Only if you spread your photos onto internet based areas, or if the police etc should remove your camera or phone for investigation. But you cannot do anything about the latter other than stay on the right side of the line.
- Nov 16, 2015
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- Nov 11, 2009
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Not the brightest of fraudsters then. Wonder if you edit the date like I do when my camera and my wife’s are out of time synch whether that leaves a fingerprint trace. Guess it does somewhere.
- Nov 16, 2015
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Yes it does, gives the original date, and the one when edited, pixel size, and camera or tablet/computer. ,
- Nov 16, 2015
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- Nov 11, 2009
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- Nov 11, 2009
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Printers have a fingerprint too so that could be detected in the scanned image, and any good printer when scanning should pick up the cameras sensor variations. That’s how fake pictures such as celebrities heads on “ irks” bodies are detected.
- Jul 18, 2017
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Oh dear so we need to revert back to our analogue cameras? LOL! We have loads of pictures from the analogue days.
- Nov 11, 2009
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I know what you mean. I’m currently sifting through lots of slides from my fathers collection and ours. One thing that’s apparent is that we did not take multiple photos of the same thing.
- Jul 18, 2017
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We were much better photographers in those days as did not want to waste. Now with digital it no longer matters.
- Nov 11, 2009
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Yes my dads allocation was generally 2x36 35 mm rolls for a two week holiday. My problem is that he lived to 96 and had a lot of holidays and lots of short breaks too 😀We were much better photographers in those days as did not want to waste. Now with digital it no longer matters.
We live in a digital goldfish bowl and the water just keeps getting clearer and clearer. Mostly the invasion into our privacy has little affect or so we may think. 'Bad actors' do affect a few who lose heavily when scammed but even the supposedly 'good actors' are often affecting our lives. Just think about how much data Amazon has about your purchasing and what you look at on their web site which is then used to persuade you to buy other stuff. And you can be tracked from one web site to another and prompted to buy the same stuff.
Prime source is Facebook and it never ceases to amaze me how much people will rant about the Governments survellance programs then give away their whole life on FB.
Metadata in images is not new but the proliferation of sharing images on the Internet is giving away even more information. I strip the metadata out of my posted images - or at least that which matters.
Don't think though that just because your camera hasn't got GPS the location can't be deduced especially if your carrying your mobile phone. The phone companies know where you are at specific times, even with GPS turned off, and it's relatively straightforward to match the time of an image to the time you were at a specific location.
Don't change the water in your bowl too soon and it will go green and block out those watching you
Prime source is Facebook and it never ceases to amaze me how much people will rant about the Governments survellance programs then give away their whole life on FB.
Metadata in images is not new but the proliferation of sharing images on the Internet is giving away even more information. I strip the metadata out of my posted images - or at least that which matters.
Don't think though that just because your camera hasn't got GPS the location can't be deduced especially if your carrying your mobile phone. The phone companies know where you are at specific times, even with GPS turned off, and it's relatively straightforward to match the time of an image to the time you were at a specific location.
Don't change the water in your bowl too soon and it will go green and block out those watching you
- Jun 16, 2020
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Adjusting or adding metadata dates is the subject of this current thread.
I learnt nothing new from the OP’s link. Except I was surprised at this statement:
“It is not impossible to expunge metadata, using freely available tools such as ExifTool.”
But as said earlier, perhaps if it bothers you, rephotograph your digital pictures. This will renew the data. But data will still be there. Even scanning just replaces the data with new data.
I can’t think of any picture I have posted in which anyone examining that data bothers me at all. Shame Trump‘s security didn’t know better.
For mass storage and organisation of photo’s. Metadata is fantastic. But it’s can been a difficulty for fraudsters etc.
John
I learnt nothing new from the OP’s link. Except I was surprised at this statement:
“It is not impossible to expunge metadata, using freely available tools such as ExifTool.”
But as said earlier, perhaps if it bothers you, rephotograph your digital pictures. This will renew the data. But data will still be there. Even scanning just replaces the data with new data.
I can’t think of any picture I have posted in which anyone examining that data bothers me at all. Shame Trump‘s security didn’t know better.
For mass storage and organisation of photo’s. Metadata is fantastic. But it’s can been a difficulty for fraudsters etc.
John
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