What Information is Your Photo Giving Criminals?

At iMoneyCoach we like to periodically give out advice that will help you avoid financial risk. Today I’d like to share an idea that can help keep criminals out of your home.

Digital photography makes snapping and sharing pictures easy. And with the ever-growing use of Smartphones and Wi-Fi, putting pictures online is become all the more popular. But is this new technology leading criminals right to your door?

Metadata is information about the photo that is stored in your digital photos, such as what type of camera you use or when the picture was taken. But it can also contain GPS coordinates – some phones with cameras, like the iPhone, automatically geotag (store coordinates) their photos. This GPS info could lead criminals right to you, your children, or your home. Imagine taking harmless pictures in your home that have something in the background a thief wants and is now able to get simply because of the metadata stored in the photo!

BUT you can remove the metadata from your photos. I’m including links, articles, and blogs here to help you understand more about metadata and photos and how to remove it:

Here is an article about a program you can use (for FREE because we like to save money at iMoneyCoach!) to remove metadata.

And this article about metadata includes a link to another metadata remover technology.

This blog talks more about removing geotag data and turning of the location setting on your phone’s
camera (and on your child’s phone!).

It is never our goal or intention to cause paranoia. At iMoneyCoach we believe in smart money management that includes an awareness of potential problems or financial risk and preventative action that is done out of intelligence rather than fear. So be sure you check out the links above and educate yourself about the potential risk of metadata in photos, and have a little peace knowing that you are doing something to keep criminals out of your home.

Tags: criminal, financial risk, metadata, money management