I have never heard of such a thing! Thanks for the warning.

I also saw this warning on our local news last week. :(

Yeah, Not cool. Does Photobucket do this? I vaguely remember unchecking a box for it.

That is crazy! Thank you for the warning. I just went into Photobucket and it does have a box that was automatically ticked that said "show where my photos were taken". I changed it to" When I upload, permanently remove information about where my photos were taken"

Geo-tagging.

Cameras (like certain cell phone cameras) that have GPS will do this if you don't tell them not to.

Thank you for posting this. I went into my photobucket account and turned it off.

The information is in the photo itself. If you post a photo with GPS data in it, anyone can grab that by downloading your photo. Turn it off in your camera, or use something like Save for Web in Photoshop/Photoshop Elements that removes all the EXIF data.

Just turning it off on a host site does nothing to remove it.

Where is said box to check/un-check in PB?

Found it!

Thanks for this. Next they'll have them projected on our backs when we leave the house.

Also found out you need to be careful with your phone.

Cat mom or anyone else, can you direct me to where it is on Photobucket? I'm clueless!

TIA for any help.

click on the little triangle next to your Account Name (over on the upper right) and select Account Settings and then Privacy Settings.

Check the box for "When I upload, permanently remove information about where my photos were taken "

Then Save.

You can read more about geotagging here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geotag

In short, every digital photo as extra information that goes with it, called metadata. Historically this included things like camera model, shutter speed, focal length, date and time. For cameras that have the ability to map GPS coordinates, it also includes (or can include) the location where the photo was taken.

To date, this has mostly been a feature of advanced cell phones or smart phones that have GPS capabilities. However, more and more "plain old digital" cameras have GPS capability, and therefore the ability to tag photos with this information.

If you want to avoid this, the best way is to turn off the feature in your camera or camera device. That way, the data never gets in the photo file to begin with. This is preferable to forever worrying about stripping it out. If you travel, and you want to geotag your photos, you can always (temporarily) turn it back on.

Folks, once again, turning it off on Photobucket isn't going to do diddly to protect you. The people who are interested in this for evil purposes know perfectly well how to read the metadata in the file itself. Heck, anyone with a vague interest in amateur photography knows how to read it. Turn it off in your camera or remove it before posting the pic.

I have it turned off on my Camera, but I've yet to figure out how to turn it off with the smart phone. But then there is a lot of things I haven't figured out with the smart phone yet!

DH and I experimented with the option of removing it from photobucket on upload. We uploaded a photo, then copied it back to our computer and we could not find the info on it after that. But we're not all that experienced so if it was still there, maybe you need more skills than we had to find it.

What ticked me off is I could not remove that info using my photo editing tools. It let me remove all other data but I could not strip out the "location" info. This was pictures take with the smart phone.

> I could not remove that info using my photo editing tools

Which photo editing tools are you using?

WOW! Great advice, and thanks for the warning.

Macybaby, thank you very much.....I would have never figured that out. HA!

I will check my cameras, phones, etc, but most all of them are on the antique side of life so maybe I'm okay.

Thanks for this info.

Geeze, I use PB and never knew that option was there, and the box next to it was UNchecked. Yikes. It is now. Thanks for the tip.

Um... i don't think people are getting it, writersblock. hope you don't mind:

IMPORTANT: READ WRITERSBLOCK'S POST, PLEASE!!!

* Posted by writersblock (My Page) on
Tue, Mar 15, 11 at 11:40

Folks, once again, turning it off on Photobucket isn't going to do diddly to protect you. The people who are interested in this for evil purposes know perfectly well how to read the metadata in the file itself. Heck, anyone with a vague interest in amateur photography knows how to read it. Turn it off in your camera or remove it before posting the pic.

* Posted by writersblock (My Page) on
Tue, Mar 15, 11 at 7:27

The information is in the photo itself. If you post a photo with GPS data in it, anyone can grab that by downloading your photo.

Turn it off in your camera, or use something like Save for Web in Photoshop/Photoshop Elements that removes all the EXIF data.

Just turning it off on a host site does nothing to remove it.

Photobucket has two options, on is not to "show" and the other one is remove the info from the picture when it is uploaded. How is that different from using a photoedit program to remove it before you upload it?

Seriously, I want to make sure the location isn't on my pictures (those taken with a cell phone)

here is a picture on Photobucket loaded to remove that info - can any of you with the proper edit tools check and see if the location is actually still on this? when I check, I don't find the info.

Sorry about the graphic nature of the picture - it's the only one I have loaded that I know had that info on it to start with.

{{!gwi}}

I think someone posted a similar message a week or two ago. But, for sure, we need reminders. Messages roll off so quickly.

I have an iphone. Can anyone tell me if you turn off the location services on the camera in the settings, is this sufficient? Or are there more steps to getting this off?

OH "deer" Macybaby, I think we all could have done without that. And this coming from a southern gal who actually went deer hunting once in her late teens. Thankfully, I was a bad shot. HA! I did bag a squirrel once, though!

But seriously, I do appreciate your help earlier and your effort here to clear this all up.

God Bless Bambi!

Sorry I'll delete the picture - it's the only one I have that I know had the location on it, and it's also the only one I have that is not taken from my home, so if someone could get the location off it, it's public hunting Land.

macybaby... looks like the info is gone. but i'd feel better if someone can second me on that opinion.

from my photobucket account, but it's still showing up. Now that has me concerned too, as I got the message that deleting it would break any links I had.

When I copy the URL to a new window, it still loads the picture. Wonder if Photobucket does a periodic update on stuff like that, or something. Hopefully it will go away soon!

Oh no, no! Don't delete or do anything else cause of my stupid comments. I can certainly appreciate that you were just trying to post the only pic you had that would do the job here. I very much appreciate your efforts here to get to the bottom of this...I appreciate everyone's time here. As I said much earlier, I am clueless.

Ya know one thing that concerned me last night on another front. I was on another thread on this list and someone had posted a pic of their kitchen. I clicked on it to try to get the picture to enlarge. When I did that, it took me to their entire Photobucket site and I could see many, many more pictures. That doesn't seem right?

pup

I guess this is when living in a large building with over 250 units is probably an advantage!

Ya know one thing that concerned me last night on another front. I was on another thread on this list and someone had posted a pic of their kitchen. I clicked on it to try to get the picture to enlarge. When I did that, it took me to their entire Photobucket site and I could see many, many more pictures. That doesn't seem right?

That's exactly what will happen if a person's album is set to public and not locked/private. The problem with that isn't seeing a whole album of kitchen pics, but that when people don't protect the privacy of other albums, anyone can look at their vacation, their kids, etc. And if they're labeled/titled, they might turn up in a Google images search. You can set all your albums to private at once, or each one individually. Some that are private can have a guest password, so people you authorize can view the pics.

I find it helpful that we are being told to turn this option off in our cameras, but I don't know how to do that! I've searched through my camera's menus and find nothing that seems to be related. It's a Sony point and shoot (DSC-W230) and don't want to assume this feature is not there...

Kathec, here is the information to turn it off on your iPhone.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Turn off iPhone Geo-tagging

So, you ask, why would you want geotagging? Think like a teenager.

You can take a picture of the weird little Chinatown restaurant with the world's best dim sum and e-mail it to your friends who are lost and late meeting you. They'll be able to see what it looks and the tag will get them right to the spot with your coordinates.

You can take pictures of everything on your vacation and not have the kids disappear down a ravine while you write down the shot number, where you are and what the heck it was you were taking a picture of to begin with.

You can go house hunting, take some quick snaps, and have all the places you've seen pop up as pins on a map in an app.

If your job is as a regional manager for a retail chain, you can take pictures of every display that needs an overhaul, ever wall that needs an update, every fixture that needs remodeling, and never have to worry that the different pics from the different stores will get mixed up.

If you have a bunch of digital pictures of little kids belonging to your far spread friends and family (the ones you don't see often enough to recognize on sight), you can always figure out which kid is which, even if they all get mixed up in your computer, by pinpointing which house they're from on which date. That might only narrow it some if it's a party picture, but it's a clue.

There are plenty of great reasons to use this tool. Just be careful when you're posting on the web.

Good discussion, and thanks Pillog for sharing the benefits of the technology -- it does have some good/useful ones it seems.

I am also grateful to the person who started this thread, as I had also been adding PB pics to my Craigslist ads and definitely did NOT want my location broadcast there.

Thanks all!

This is not precisely on topic, but as a retired practicing psychotherapist I question the wisdom of including your kids in photos of your home. Granted, if you've used the technology correctly your location may not be known, but there are lots of people out there whom you would not want using your children's pictures in any way. I know your kids are darling (my grandkids are too) but I'm concerned that their photos are best not shared here or on other public forums.

Everyone has given such great advice. I just want to
add one more piece to the knowlege base.

Susank, great point, I have never used my kids but I do
use my dogs although maybe I need to stop.???
Let me continue my point. You are welcome to click on my photo....(You don't have to do this you can read below)

After you click on the photo it will take you to my PB
account. My PB account is private however PB does not want
to loose potential surfers so it will let you click the
arrow to the next picture. You THINK you are on my album. Your NOT.

In fact it will be pictures of other dogs or other pictures
with the word boxer in it. Barbara Boxer, Boxer Shorts,
Boxer dogs or Boxer Mike Tyson... but they won't be my
photos.

PB wants people visiting there site so you won't have a
message from them that says (This is NOT Boxerpups's album)
It is a trick they use to get people to visit. I just
want to let some of you know that if you did indeed set
up your account to be private is probably is.

Set the album to private but also set your link options.
I would avoid having links to Facebook, Cell Phone or
any other device. Keep the html but avoid all other
options this can only keep you safer.

Thanks for letting me share that and keep protecting
yourself.
~boxerpups

Boxerpups, your real initials C.K.? It's not as private as you think.

Those are not my initials.
very funny

Okay Okay
You got me, I'm Calvin Klein.
; )

~boxerpups

Not funny at all. I'm glad you have enough sense not to use your real name there, but every day I click links here that lead me to websites where people are using their real names on their photo accounts.

People shouldn't do that if they care about privacy, although there's really no privacy at all on the web and the only way to really be private is to stay offline completely.

And if you care about privacy, do not even sign up for a facebook account.

Boxerpups,

Just to see, I clicked and got just a page with the photo, no album of similar shots and no "next" button. I've never seen the kind of fake album you described, though I'm sure there are some things that trigger it. There was once I was using Google images to find something or other and ended up with a bunch of your pictures, but I don't remember if they were in PB or an aggregation done by Google.

The real tell was when I tried to do an end around into your album, and it didn't work. ;) That tells me your privacy settings work well enough for the average user not to be able to get in.

Thanks Plllog,

Since being on GW I have had a hack into my PB account.
I was so upset but this is how life is on the WWW.
You might remember when Redroze had an issue with someone
taking her kitchen pictures and claiming he had done the
work. Very upsetting!

Truth be told if someone wants to, they can get in. Nothing
is 100% safe.
And if you google boxerpups, 1000s of images will pop up.
Or links or old posts (only related to Gardenweb of course)
Actually I think this is the case with Plllog or any name.
And believe me I am more than happy to share images of
kitchens and even the ocassional dog to the web.

On a side note I wonder if people realize that when they
use their cell phone or Ipod to take a picture, this is
how the GPS can track the image. It might not be the case
with a regular cameras. I have a very new Sony camera and
it does not track. An Ipad, Ipod or Iphone has an AP to
track that device all over the world.
If you loose your Ipod you can actually get is back this
way. BUT, a BIG BUT it can also find you. Becareful.

Another way names can be found on images is when you
save your kitchen picture as your own name
" John Smith's kitchen cabinet."
It then saves to your Kodak, PB or any account with the
name titled on the picture. Be sure to retitle all your
pictures with some obscure name
Calvin & Hobbs, Snoopy, Supergirl, boxerpups..

~boxerpups

Actually, Boxerpups, you bring up a good point about titles. If you don't want to see your images in strange places, don't put an identifying name on each of them. The easiest is to leave the number. "img0037.jpg" is totally unidentifiable. "Dining room.jpg" will come up on high Google, especially right after you post it. :) Use abbreviations that it takes a human to understand, and it won't turn up in someone's search string, e.g., "dr315blupnt11.jpg" is easy to find in your album as dining room, today's date, blue paint, year, but isn't going to get a lot of hits on searches.

Remember, once it's posted on GW, I (and anyone else) can steal it no matter what you do to stop it. We can remove your watermarks and metadata, as well. Even if you take the picture down, there are echos out there where it will remain forever. Once it's on the web, it's on the web forever, even if it's hard to get at. One reason I take badly composed pictures for web use is that there's no recovering from ugly. Titled in the plane of the photo is fixable. Tilted in any other plane is not. Things lined up improperly is not. Don't want people stealing your photos? Make 'em ugly! Sometimes I forget when I want to show something pretty, and line it all up nicely, but I try to keep it kind of sorry looking. ;) (Also, if you don't want people to break into your car, keep it dirty and full of worthless junk.)