[PSA] Imgur - Your Metadata Can Be Used Against You

I see a lot of people using Imgur to post images, and hopefully the information is well known, but if not please review before you post your pictures.

Imgur Privacy Policy

We also log the metadata associated with any images or videos you upload. None of this automatically collected technical information is associated with any identified person at the time it is collected, but it could be associated with you under two circumstances: First, if you choose to give us personal data about you as described below, the technical information we collect that would otherwise be anonymous could instead be logged as coming from you; and second, if we are required to disclose our server logs as a result of a subpoena or other legal process, some third party such as your internet provider could match our anonymous technical information with you, using information beyond what is found on our servers.


Comments


[7 Points] None:

[deleted]


[4 Points] thenine9:

when taking photos, the site storing metadata is the least of your concerns. the metadata shouldn't be there in any case!

best to avoid taking photos, they give away far too much. all you need is a picture of a shadow and a time and someone can work out where you are.

police science labs have entire catalogs of floor coverings, wall coverings, furniture, ink types from pens, etc. and show any one or two of these things along with a time and shadow in an innocent looking photo and you're likely already close to being identified.

if you do need to take a picture - do it on a plain white background, bright flash, no handwriting in it (so many vendors make this mistake) and then clear all the EXIF and modified tags using imageoptim on OS X or google for 'scrub exif' on google for related tools.

Use an upload service that doesn't store any data, like http://prntscr.com (but don't all use the same service, as that would make it a target).


[1 Points] blackhand25:

It's down right now, but I believe Anonmgur does not record metadata. If nothing else, it is accessible via Tor, so that alone makes it safer.


[1 Points] lalaks:

fotosizer is free and will wipe your EXIF data.