WEBVTT - Geotagging and Privacy 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:18.079 tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:21.480 Welcome to tex Stuff. My name is Chris Poette. I'm 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:24.160 an editor at how stuff works dot com and sittre 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:26.920 across from me, as he is typically on these occasions, 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:30.040 his senior writer, Jonathan Strickland. I kicked the map into 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:35.000 the creek. That was a short quote, and if you 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:38.120 know the genesis of that quote, please let us know. 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:43.599 And if you don't, I'm so scared. Okay, all right, 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:46.199 I give it away. Now. We're going to talk today 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:51.280 about geo tagging and its relationship to privacy and how 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:54.080 how geo tagging can be a really cool thing and 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:56.480 can be a really neat way to interact with people 0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:59.720 online as well as to keep track of things that 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:04.040 you've on, and also how sometimes it can be a 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:07.760 bad thing, like you can give tools to people you 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:10.720 may not want to associate with ways to harass you 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:14.160 and make your life miserable. Yeah, I'd like to uh 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:16.760 to make it clear to we we bring these kinds 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:18.679 of things up a lot, and we get criticized on 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:24.440 occasion from people who seem to feel that we're unequivocally 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:29.039 saying that these computerized tools are dangerous and scary and 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:32.040 therefore you should turn off all technology. And that's that's 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:36.039 not what we're saying. Um, like just about every technology 0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:38.399 we've ever mentioned on the podcast, not all of them, 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:41.600 but the vast majority of them. Um, you can use 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:44.039 tools for all kinds of purposes. I mean, you could 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:45.520 hit somebody in the head with a hammer, but it's 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:48.960 really great for pounding in nails. Uh man, wait what 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:51.920 I have been using the hammer in a very limited way. 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:56.400 I shouldn't know that what's gonna happen? So bang, Thanks Maxwell, 0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:02.760 thank you. Um yeah, doesn't that beat all? Um, No, 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:07.640 we're off to our rollicking stuff. No. Geo tagging is 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:11.000 one of those things that that can be really really 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:15.320 useful for all kinds of informational purposes. It can be 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:19.680 used for fun. Um. But if you give like you know, 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:23.200 put your phone number up on on a billboard, and 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:25.440 some people you like, we'll call, and other people you 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:28.480 don't will, so so just be careful how you use that. 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:30.639 And that's that's the essential message. But let's get into 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:34.320 geo tagging and what it is and maybe you know 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:36.800 and and great much greater detail will get into the 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:39.880 privacy issue here. Sure. Yeah, so geo tagging is exactly 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:43.040 what it sounds like. It is tagging some sort of 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:48.560 information with geographical a layer of geographical information. Yeah, we're 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:53.120 we're talking about metadata here, and metadata is information about 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:56.919 some information. Well yeah, information about information. That's usually how 0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:00.480 it's described. But um, you know you have a a 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:03.119 book in front of you. Well, it's got a title. Um, 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:05.359 you can talk about the publisher, You could talk about 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:07.000 what kind of paper it was printed on. You can 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:09.280 get into all kinds of information about how many pages 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:12.120 it has, how many words per page on average. But 0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:14.160 when we talk about geo tagging, you could geo tag 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:16.519 a book. Heyes, you know it came from London. Look 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:17.920 it says that right there on the page. It's on 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:22.000 my shelf exactly. But yeah. You take a photo on 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:27.560 your smartphone and it may include information from the GPS 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:31.120 device that you have also in your smartphone. So you 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:35.280 can say, go to the Grand Canyon and take photos 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:39.080 of your your summer vacation, and you could say this 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:41.960 is specifically where this photo was shot. So if somebody, 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:44.560 one of your friends. You post this on your photo 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:47.000 sharing account on the web. When of your friends wants 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:49.480 to go, oh, man, I'm going into the Grand Canyon 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:52.320 this summer too. Where where did you take that picture? 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:54.680 I want to see that for myself, we could say, well, 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:57.520 these are the coordinates, So there you go, geo tagging. Yeah, 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:01.160 there's actually a lot of different potential all applications for this. 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:05.480 There's the the fun vacation sort of version that you 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:07.400 were talking about. For example, let's say that you go 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:10.200 on a road trip and along the road trip, you 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:12.360 take all these different photos and then you want to 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:17.320 organize the photos into a online photo album, maybe even 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:21.320 something that's more like an interactive scrapbook, and you want 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:24.320 to go and create that. Well, there are programs that 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:26.760 will allow you to do that, and they what they 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:29.760 do is they read the meta data connected to those images. 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:32.840 So let's say that you're using a smartphone or you're 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:35.440 using a digital camera that has a GPS receiver built 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:37.480 into it, because there are some out there, not all 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:40.120 of them, but there are some, and you take photos. 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:44.520 What's cool is that most cameras, now almost all of them, 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:48.200 will time stamp a photo yes, so it'll give you 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:51.159 an exact date and time that that photo was taken. 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:53.440 So as long as the cameras you know, clock is 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:56.520 correct and calendar is correct, you're gonna have that information 0:04:56.560 --> 0:04:59.680 included on the image. Then you have the additional information 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:04.400 of the GPS UH coordinates, so you've got longitude and 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:07.520 latitude that gets thrown in there. With the right program, 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:11.920 you could dump a ton of digital not really a 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:14.040 ton because they don't wear anything, but you can throw 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:16.880 up a lot of digital photos into that and have 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:21.240 it arranged those photos by date and time and by location, 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:24.280 so you could create an interactive map where someone could 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:27.640 then go and look at how you went from on 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:31.120 your vacation, like from following the photos, they can retrace 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:35.080 your steps, see the sites you saw, and sort of 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:38.839 live your vacation just by going through these links. And 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.720 you know, that's just a basic application of geotagging. There 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:43.120 are a lot of other ones. I mean, there's there 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:45.760 are tons of reasons to use it for marketing. I 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:48.480 used an example recently when I was talking about this 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:53.480 on on a local news program. For example, let's see 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:56.719 you have a food truck and let's say there's maybe 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:59.560 four or five locations that you take this food truck 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:02.599 to reag liarly throughout the week, and as a way 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:06.280 of showing people where this is, you may take photos 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:07.880 of your food truck so one they know what it 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:10.640 looks like, but you include geotagging information and a and 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:14.719 a a map application so it shows exactly where that 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:18.719 truck is located when it's you know, when it's operating hours, 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:22.920 have it at that particular spot exactly, so then you've 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:27.400 got a map that pops up. There are applications that 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:31.240 incorporate this in such a seamless way that you really 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:33.240 don't have to do anything other than make sure that 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:37.760 GPS setting is turned on. Once you've done that, it 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:40.680 does all the work for you. For example, twit pick 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:44.200 does this if I take a photo with my my 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:47.880 Android phone and I have the GPS feature turned on 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:51.039 when I'm taking photos so it shares location data, and 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:54.600 I enable the location data on twit pick. So there 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:58.600 are two spots where I have to agree to do this. Um, 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:00.440 if I do both of those things and I take 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.360 a photo using my camera and then upload it to 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:06.599 twit pick, not only will it include that geographic location, 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:10.280 it will actually pull up a Google Maps image and 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:12.960 show where that photo was taken. And if you want, 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:15.720 you can switch map from map view mode to satellite 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:19.840 view mode and see a satellite picture of where you know, 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:21.920 where I was standing when I took that photo. We 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:25.400 tried this on camera and it worked so well. We 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:27.920 actually I took a photo from uh we have a 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:32.080 balcony here at how stuff works in a nice deck really, um, 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:33.880 that I stood out on and I took photos of 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:36.440 and using the satellite you could see the exact location 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:39.880 I stood where I took those photos, and it was, 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:41.480 you know, a satellite photo of it, not just a 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:44.760 map location. So that's kind of cool. You can use 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:48.640 that for all sorts of reasons. Um. But here's the 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:51.600 thing about data, about data people, if people know how 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:58.120 to access it, they can exploit it. Um. Yeah, it's 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:03.720 it's a bad idea. Uh uh well okay, before ideeah, 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:07.040 well yeah, I was gonna say this in a specific instance, 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:10.160 but let me back up for just one second. You 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:14.560 can there, Uh. Geo tagging is something that you know. 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:18.600 Of course I knew about it. It's it's pretty common today, 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:23.080 especially for people with with smartphones. Um. But when I 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.480 when I looked into it looking for a little history, 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:27.880 as we were wont to do on this show. UM. 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:31.520 I think the first mentions I saw when they were 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:33.240 still people were still talking about it as though it 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:36.360 were a new phenomenon. We're around two thousand seven, two eight, 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:42.000 and that's when uh, consumer smartphones started becoming more popular. 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:44.560 The iPhone had come out in two thousand seven, and 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:47.199 that really launched the smartphone craze, at least in the 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:51.200 United States. Yeah, for consumers, of course, you know, UM 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:56.960 and UH, of course there were the uh the memory 0:08:56.960 --> 0:09:01.240 cards used in digital cameras like the I Fi that well, 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:04.240 even if you don't have a GPS enabled camera will 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:10.160 store GPS information in the an images metadata UM, which 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:12.280 is pretty cool because you don't have to have a 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:15.679 GPS a camera would built in GPS to use that UM. 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:18.720 And I've read pretty good reviews of that. UM. So 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:21.240 this is something coming on and now that we can 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:25.600 do this UM, all sorts of other opportunities have sprung up. 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:29.880 People use services like UM, like go Wala or four square. 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:32.880 They want to tag where they are and not necessarily images. 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:35.640 They'll say, you know, hey, I'm at the pub, you know, 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.200 on the corner and come hang out if you're in 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:41.840 the neighborhood exactly. UM. Twitter and Twitter is the same way, 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:44.480 and Facebook as well. They have there's Facebook places and 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:47.160 there's also that you can turn location data on on 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:49.840 Twitter if you want to. Yes, that's right, And that's 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:53.120 exactly where I was going to go with this, UM, 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:56.000 because you know you can you can say this. You 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:59.400 can tell people on Twitter and Facebook and UM through 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:01.959 images you shoot with your phone or your digital camera 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:05.320 where you are, UM, and that can be great if 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:07.560 you want to share details about your vacation. Maybe you're 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:10.360 on a business trip and you're somebody who likes to 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:15.520 use social media to um point out how you're different 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:18.120 from everybody else in your colleagues, and that's how you 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:20.880 network with your colleagues and UM, it shows that you're 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:24.440 really valuable in your field. Well, maybe you're on a 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:27.800 business trip and you're taking photos and you're tagging everything 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:31.199 and you're showing people your exact location, and then people 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:33.560 realize you're not home. And somebody who happens to know 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:36.719 who you are, particularly who you are, and maybe they 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:39.400 know where you live, they go way out. They're not home. 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:44.400 So if I went to their house, maybe no one 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:48.360 is there, um, and that can be dangerous. And it's 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:52.600 it's possible if you don't use your real name on 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:56.400 on the social network and you're just taking photos, um, 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:58.079 and you could you could take photos of your summer 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:00.440 vacation and post them when you get home, and so 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:04.640 you have your GEO tagged photos and you haven't revealed 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:07.520 to everybody that you are out last week. It's like, well, 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:10.800 I'm home now, so I went on a vacation to 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:12.960 so and so. Here are the photos. Yea, And that's 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:15.560 that's great. But if you're if you're not careful and 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:18.880 you post the wrong information, the right the exact right 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:22.079 information at the wrong time, if you could clue people 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:24.840 in that you're not home, or if you have people 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:29.160 that might want to do you harm. I hope that's 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:32.120 not the case, but yeah, if you have somebody that 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:35.800 you've upset and they are following you and know exactly 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:38.160 where you are, then they can come find you. That 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:40.360 could be a little nerve wracking. We can dive into 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:42.520 this even a little deeper because there are there are 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:45.920 very easy ways where people can find out where you 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:48.920 live that some some of which would be under your 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:52.040 control and some of which may not. For example, let's 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:55.880 say that you've taken a photo of either your home 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:58.240 or your inside your home. Maybe you're throwing a party 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:00.719 and you're taking pictures of the party, and let's say 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:03.840 you've got the location data turned on there. Well, that 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:06.520 metadata is going to be connected to those those images, 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:11.480 and if you upload those images to certain uh photo albums, 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:15.280 online photo albums, especially if you have it arranged that 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:18.840 it's public uh, there's the possibility someone could then pull 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:21.920 that image, look at the metadata and say, ah, this 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:24.480 is where this person's houses. I did not know that before. 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:26.800 But because they've posted these pictures of an event that 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.280 they weren't thinking about, like oh, this shows where my 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:32.920 house is, they're thinking this was Bob's party as surprise party. 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:34.360 It was great's a lot of fun. We took all 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.400 these photos. That could be that could lead to be 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:38.960 a problem. It could also be a problem if you 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:43.880 if someone who's visiting you takes photos and then they 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:48.320 upload it into some public online UH photo album and 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:50.400 their metadata is turned on. In that case, it's not 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:52.240 even under your control. You're not the one who took 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:55.040 the photos. But if they tag you in those photos, 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:57.560 or they mentioned that they're at your house and that 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:01.040 data is in that if that metadata connected to the photo, 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:05.040 someone could learn where you live. And this might not 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:06.680 be a big deal for some of you may not 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:11.040 think that that's a that scary a notion and and 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:13.720 for most of it's probably not um but if you 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:16.280 happen to do things like use Twitter or Facebook to 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:19.400 post when you go on vacation, like you're saying, I'm 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:22.600 leaving tonight, I'm so excited, Well, then that you've just 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:24.920 given the clue that all right, I know where this 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:26.679 person lives, I know they're not going to be home, 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:31.960 that this is the perfect opportunity to try and rob them. Now. Uh, 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:33.920 you know, if you're careful about it and you don't 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:37.960 share your your address, then there's less danger of that happening. 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:39.959 If it does happen, you can pretty much narrow it 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:43.200 down to the people who know you. And then you're thinking, well, 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:46.120 there's gonna be a reckoning because I know it's one 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:49.240 of you jerks, and I'm gonna narrow it down. But 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.800 but yeah, like I said, with these these systems, it 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:54.400 can it can really come back and haunt you. It's 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:58.320 kind of interesting too, also to see which services preserve 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:02.160 the meta data and which ones strip it out. So, 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:05.959 for example, twit pick, the meta data is preserved if 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:09.440 you turn your location on in whatever device you're using 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:12.000 to capture the photo, and you turn it on on 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:14.040 twit pick. Now, granted, like I said, you have to 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:17.360 choose to share it. Um so that's an opt in, 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:19.960 which is good. We we like opt in, we don't 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:22.800 like opt out. You know, where you make the conscious 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:27.240 choice to share the information as a default. Yes, if 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:29.920 you if that's the if it's default, to opt into it, 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:33.640 that's good. Um So if you so, let's say that 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:35.640 you have all that you share it, that meta data 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:39.440 will be preserved. What's interesting to me is one major 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:43.200 place where people store photos that strips the meta data out, 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:46.360 and I would have never guessed it is it Facebook. 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:50.160 It is if you upload an image that has meta 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:52.840 data in it that that connects it to a location, 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:56.360 and you upload it to your Facebook profile, and then 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:59.440 someone were to go into that photo album, download the 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:01.760 image and open it up in some sort of editor 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:04.280 software to kind of see what the metadata is, they 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:06.960 are not going to find location data in there. Interested 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:11.160 strips it out. So Facebook actually does not support geo 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:13.720 tagging right now as of the recording of this podcast. 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:17.160 Now could that change? It could and maybe that they 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:21.800 incorporate pictures in their places. Uh. Feature in places, of course, 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:26.120 is where you virtually check into locations capital places, yes, 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:28.840 and and other people can check you into there as well. 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:31.920 You have to improve it, but other people, like let's 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:34.640 say that you're at a restaurant and your friends are there, 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:36.880 and your friends are on you know, going through the 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:39.480 Facebook places to check in, they can check you in 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:41.680 as well, but you have to approve it before it 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:45.360 will pop up everywhere. Um, there may come a time 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:48.840 where photographs are also supported by this feature. Right now 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:52.320 they are not again as of the recording of this podcast. 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:55.560 So that was interesting to me that Facebook does not 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:59.080 actually support geo tagging. Now you could still tell people 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.800 where that was like if you wanted to. I mean, 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:03.840 there's nothing stopping you from putting it in the caption. 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:07.480 And there are also services out there that allow you 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:11.280 to upload photos and then you put them on a map. 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:15.400 Like you you you physically in input the address into 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:19.480 the service, so it's not pulling from the meta data 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:24.680 of the picture. It's requiring user input to geographically placed photos. 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:26.760 That's a little different. It still can come back and 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:31.000 haunt you. Yeah. Yeah, Now, I mean another example of 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:35.280 something there. There have been a number of articles, uh 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:40.320 in the media recently about geotagging and the possibility that 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:44.720 it could lead to trouble if you're not careful, and 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:46.800 one of those was, you know, if you have a 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:50.720 lot of maybe you're taking you finally splurged and got 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:54.120 that home entertainment system that you've always been wanting, and 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:56.680 then you take photos of it and you know, share 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:59.920 that in public with people, and you didn't turn off 0:16:59.920 --> 0:17:03.200 the geo tagging on your phone, and some random person 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:04.960 happens on it and goes, well, it is a really 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:08.920 nice new entertainment system. I wonder if they're home during 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:11.359 the week during normal business hours where most people are 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:16.800 out working, and I have their exact location, so yeah, 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:19.200 that that could be that could be hazardous. So yeah, 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:21.160 I mean, there are so many things that you could 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:26.400 use it for, uh, for good purposes, um, you know research, um, 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:31.199 you know, personal research, geneal genealogical research. Um. You can 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:34.960 use it for geocashing purposes too. We had that that 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:38.960 great podcast a long time ago. Now it seems like, um, 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:40.560 but yeah, I mean they're there are games that you 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:44.440 can play with geographical information. Um, you just have to 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:47.679 be careful what you what you're sharing, and don't forget 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:50.000 that there may be some kinds of information you do 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:52.320 want to tag in some that you don't. Yeah, if 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:54.840 you're making a travel guide for someone and you're giving 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:57.440 them suggestions of where to go within a certain city, 0:17:57.720 --> 0:17:59.879 geo tagging is a great tool. If you're using a 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:03.320 website and interactive website to show people, Look, you know, 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:05.520 just down the street from this one museum, is this 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:09.359 really cool restaurant that, uh that I recommend because of 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:11.399 blah blah blah. You know that sort of stuff. It 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:14.560 comes in really handy. But yeah, there are other besides 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:19.840 the whole burglary uh possibility. There's also the question of 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:23.240 things like attracting the wrong sort of attention, like stalkers. 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:28.040 That's a very real concern, um, especially if you're using 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:32.240 something like Twitter and you don't have a protected uh feed, 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:35.159 Like if you if you have a public feed, that 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:38.359 means every single thing you publish is going to be 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:41.560 published on the public feed and theoretically anyone can see it. 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:45.359 So let's say that you are, I don't know, a 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:50.679 dashingly handsome co host of a technology podcast, and you 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:53.280 take pictures of all your favorite places that you like 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:57.879 to go. And then some uh incredibly attractive young lady 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:03.760 who has desires upon this bald, handsome co host of 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:06.399 a technology podcast where to look at those photos and 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:09.280 that meta data and say, hey, these are his favorite spots. 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:11.359 All I have to do is go to one of these, 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:13.119 and sooner or later he's going to show up, and 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:15.120 then I can tell him how much I love him. 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:18.520 Why has that not happened yet? I guess I haven't 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:21.920 turned that GPS information on. That's the problem. I haven't, 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:25.840 dang it. You know, there's always something, but no, no, seriously, though, 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:28.119 to be to be, I'm making light of it, but 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:31.159 this is really a very serious situation, and that you know, 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:33.520 you you need to be aware that the information you're 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:37.240 sharing could, if you're not careful with it, be used 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:40.800 by other people to to harass you, and uh, you know, 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:45.200 and that we don't want to see that happen. Now Again, 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:49.399 we are not telling you don't use geotagging, just be 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:53.120 aware of when you're using it, the situations you're using 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:56.280 it in and the purpose you're using it. Um, Because 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:58.440 again it could be a really fun way to share 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:03.600 information about yourself, but you may not want to share everything. Yeah, yeah, 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:07.160 I think that's a that's a good point. Um. It's 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:08.879 just it's just one of those things where we're not 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:13.240 saying no, don't ever do it. Just um, you know, 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:16.080 just think about it. And yeah, the odds someone will 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:21.280 someone when someone will invariably right in and say, you know, 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:25.040 you said geotagging was bad and I shouldn't do it, well, yeah, 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:27.480 the odds are pretty slim that some of this is 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:31.440 going to happen. Um, But you know, just think about it. 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:33.960 It's just like, just like if you live in uh, 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:39.160 you know, a pretty heavily um popular popularized area. Right. 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:41.719 Let's say like you live in a in a big city, right, 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:45.600 you don't normally leave your car unlocked, or you'll leave 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:50.400 your house or apartment unlocked, because even though the likelihood 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:53.200 that you'll be targeted or for a home invasion or 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:57.040 a car burglary is low, you don't go tempting fate. 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:01.040 Same sort of thing, and again, you know their ties 0:21:01.080 --> 0:21:03.399 when you using geo tagging is perfectly fine. You just 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:05.600 you may not want to use it all the time. 0:21:05.640 --> 0:21:08.600 Like you're visiting your buddy and you're taking pictures, you 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:10.560 might want to You might want to at least ask 0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:13.840 your friend, like should I turn GEO tagging off? Because 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:17.400 otherwise people are gonna know exactly where this place is. Well, yeah, 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:19.400 and that's funny because that you would say that, because 0:21:19.400 --> 0:21:23.560 I was thinking specifically of the rash of um break 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:26.360 ins that has been happening in businesses here in Atlanta 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:29.320 over the past few months. A lot of there have 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:32.000 been a lot of break ins and smallish businesses like 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:36.000 strip malls, uh, from people who are breaking in to 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:40.440 steal flat screen TVs off the walls, places that are 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:44.040 that are offering TV for their customers in waiting rooms 0:21:44.040 --> 0:21:47.120 and things like that. Um. And you know, if you're 0:21:47.119 --> 0:21:51.000 taking a picture of some place while you're out, UM 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:55.320 what GEO tagging information? It's not necessarily your information, or 0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:57.960 you might be the business owner and people are you know, Hey, 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:00.159