Are you aware of the dangers your smartphone could present when you share the pictures you have taken on social media sites? I wrongly assumed it was a more widely known issue so I was surprised when many of my Facebook friends started sharing this post warning everyone about geotagging.
Geotagging typically consists of the latitude and longitude coordinates being added to media such as photos and videos. When this media is shared online, there is potential for anyone to find out where specific photos or videos were taken as well as find a pattern to determine if you frequent these locations.
The post that went viral had an update that states the writer has no knowledge on how to turn the tagging off, so I’d like to give some information that could hopefully assist those that would like the help.
For the Samsung Galaxy S3: My phone has the “GPS tag” setting within the stock camera app. Simply click on the cog in the top left once the camera app is open and make sure GPS tag is turned off. It’s that simple.
Some smartphones may have it within their main settings. If you turn off your phone’s GPS setting, you won’t be able to use the maps app or any app that uses it. Look specifically for the camera GPS tag/Geotag setting.
The no longer active I Can Stalk U website has a page that lists instructions for disabling geotagging on different smartphone platforms. This site gets into a lot more detail than I do, so you can visit them to learn more.
Stay safe everyone!
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