I received the following from one of my teachers. I thought is was worth passing on, especially to parents! Please take note of the following. I know I have had this happen to me.
This is alarming!
As with all new gadgets, there is almost always a pitfall of some sort
and this one falls well into that category.
Apparently, makers of many smart phones decided it would be a really
neat idea to embed location information into the pictures you take
with your smart phones such as GPS coordinates of the location of the
picture. It's called Geotagging and there are browser plug-in's and
web sites devoted to showing a map of where the picture was taken.
It's a really neat feature if you work for National Geographic and
need to know where that picture of the Lion was when you return to
your office. However, when you randomly post things online and
someone with malicious intent decides they want to find you or your
children in the picture, they can get a very detailed map to your home
or wherever the picture was taken.
The average person should disable this feature on your phones to
eliminate the threat.
This is an interesting read on the subject from the Privacy Rights
Clearing house:
http://www.privacyrights.org/
Below is the warning I received and a news video also explaining the threat.
Warning" If you, your kids or grand kids take pics from your
phone---WATCH THIS!
This is truly alarming - please take the time to watch. At the end
they'll tell you how to set your phone so you don't run this risk!
I want everyone of you to watch this and then be sure to share with
all your family and friends. It's REALLY important info, about what
your posting things on your cell phones can do TO YOU!!!
PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO WATCH THIS VIDEO, AND TAKE THE RECOMMENDED PRECAUTIONS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
PLEASE PASS THIS INFO TO ANYONE YOU KNOW WHO TAKES PICTURES WITH THEIR
CELL OR SMART PHONE AND POSTS THEM ONLINE.
This is alarming!
As with all new gadgets, there is almost always a pitfall of some sort
and this one falls well into that category.
Apparently, makers of many smart phones decided it would be a really
neat idea to embed location information into the pictures you take
with your smart phones such as GPS coordinates of the location of the
picture. It's called Geotagging and there are browser plug-in's and
web sites devoted to showing a map of where the picture was taken.
It's a really neat feature if you work for National Geographic and
need to know where that picture of the Lion was when you return to
your office. However, when you randomly post things online and
someone with malicious intent decides they want to find you or your
children in the picture, they can get a very detailed map to your home
or wherever the picture was taken.
The average person should disable this feature on your phones to
eliminate the threat.
This is an interesting read on the subject from the Privacy Rights
Clearing house:
http://www.privacyrights.org/
Below is the warning I received and a news video also explaining the threat.
Warning" If you, your kids or grand kids take pics from your
phone---WATCH THIS!
This is truly alarming - please take the time to watch. At the end
they'll tell you how to set your phone so you don't run this risk!
I want everyone of you to watch this and then be sure to share with
all your family and friends. It's REALLY important info, about what
your posting things on your cell phones can do TO YOU!!!
PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO WATCH THIS VIDEO, AND TAKE THE RECOMMENDED PRECAUTIONS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
PLEASE PASS THIS INFO TO ANYONE YOU KNOW WHO TAKES PICTURES WITH THEIR
CELL OR SMART PHONE AND POSTS THEM ONLINE.
