Suggestion: remove GPS info from uploaded photos by default

Great idea. Not just for mobile phones, but a lot of modern cameras are GPS enabled, and if a photographer does a home shoot with a model we're basically telling the entire world where the model lives if the photographer neglects to turn the feature off.

AFAIK PP doesn't do anything with embedded metadata. I've been able to see Adobe processing steps in some uploaded JPEGs (it's a separate block of metadata to the familiar EXIF). 

It is pain for a web site to remove some metadata and leave the rest intact, so you'd routinely dump author/copyright messages as well as GPS .  I don't want my "Real world" name - which the camera puts in the copyright field for me - appearing on PP, but if PP "protected" me by stripping out my name you can imagine the hue and cry from others.  So I'd argue that people need to take a bit of responsibility themselves rather than looking for others (PP) to do it for them, not forgetting that in some location cases one might be happy to share the GPS data. 

CalmNudes I hear you, but just because it might not be as easy as removing all meta data, I do still think that for safety, it would be a good idea to strip GPS data from a file if it's present. Not everyone is using software on a computer that lets them remove the GPS info, and if you upload a shot from your mobile to the site directly then it very likely has GPS info in.

However you can change the copyright notice either in camera or in software afterwards, but it is the models posting shots of their home, taken with their mobiles, that are most likely to be sharing exactly where they live unknowingly. 

Brian - p4pictures said

CalmNudes I hear you, but just because it might not be as easy as removing all meta data, I do still think that for safety, it would be a good idea to strip GPS data from a file if it's present. Not everyone is using software on a computer that lets them remove the GPS info, and if you upload a shot from your mobile to the site directly then it very likely has GPS info in.

However you can change the copyright notice either in camera or in software afterwards, but it is the models posting shots of their home, taken with their mobiles, that are most likely to be sharing exactly where they live unknowingly. 

They upload those same pictures to lots of places .... to the best of my knowledge all phones let you turn off GPS tagging.

It's the responsibility of the person taking and uploading the picture, not the site which hosts it.

TBH I don't know which social media sites strip data, and which don't ... I don't know any which only strip GPS - so the chances are if a model puts a picture on PP, it is getting a wider audience via twitter / facebook / Instagram / Pintrest .

I don't think there has been a case anywhere of someone visiting a model's home because GPS was exposed on a picture, so the claims towards about safety are more a theoretical risk than an actual danger; since I've got some idea of what's involved in doing this I think it comes a long way down PPs priorities. (One could start with don't reveal your real name, because with that, a town and the electoral roll .... or don't put your full post code as a location ... )

Maybe detecting GPS metadata and displaying a warning may be a reasonable compromise?

Rob James said

Maybe detecting GPS metadata and displaying a warning may be a reasonable compromise?

I think that's a very good idea.

Rob James said

Maybe detecting GPS metadata and displaying a warning may be a reasonable compromise?

Like this idea

When I export images from Lightroom, I always have the "remove location info" box ticked. 

Simple really :-) 

I'm fairly sure many of the editing softwares available have some form, or other, way of removing GPS and other metadata information, yet still retain the copyright of the image owner. Then it's a case of keeping that box ticked during export.

GPS stamps can be turned off on cameras and phones.

Its the responsibility of the equipment owner to do that, no one else's.

Is this a significant risk though? Are there any real world examples of models actually being 'stalked' as a direct result of a third party obtaining their home address via exif data?

skymouse said

Rob James said

Maybe detecting GPS metadata and displaying a warning may be a reasonable compromise?

I think that's a very good idea.

Agree. Easier to do, gives people a warning to fix it if uploading somewhere else, and puts responsibility where it belongs.

The Photographer formerly known as Sine Kwanon said

Is this a significant risk though? Are there any real world examples of models actually being 'stalked' as a direct result of a third party obtaining their home address via exif data?

Are you asking people to 'fess up ? Most people who are stalked don't worry exactly how the stalker got all the info they collected.

It's so obviously a possible problem that maybe we could consider it before you read about it in the crime reports.

Have added a note about this this-end, a very interesting point and one we'll have a think about and look into.  Our current image uploader/manager may not allow for specific exif data to be read/removed/modified, but always looking into different components for that stuff, especially with things like multiple image uploads etc. being looked into atm too.

Were is my tinfoil hat again, if you wanted to find out information on a model or photographer then it's pretty simple to do, there is no need for this type of paranoia.