Are GPS coordinates attached to cell phone pictures?

I read somewhere that an uploaded image from a cell phone contains the latitude and longitude of where that photo was taken, but can't seem to find any articles concerning this matter. Anyone know if it's true?

KitchenKhemist said:

I read somewhere that an uploaded image from a cell phone contains the latitude and longitude of where that photo was taken, but can't seem to find any articles concerning this matter. Anyone know if it's true?

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I can't speak for all phones, but for the most part 'no'. My phone has that feature, but you have to turn it on, and usually theirs a little symbol that tells you its a GPS pic... also the fact that your GPS receiver has to flip on. Cell phone triangulation alone is not accurate enough.

blahblahblah123 said:

I can't speak for all phones, but for the most part 'no'. My phone has that feature, but you have to turn it on, and usually theirs a little symbol that tells you its a GPS pic... also the fact that your GPS receiver has to flip on. Cell phone triangulation alone is not accurate enough.

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Some phones, such as the iPhone, do have this technology. However most image uploading sites, such as Flickr have the option not to upload the location data. just look and make sure you always have that option to upload it off.

Ya my blackberry has it. Its called GEO Tagging I think

i would never upload a mobile pic...

if you take the pic, don't text/email it through your cell... try uploading it through a cable to your computer... then use photoshop or paint to copy/paste the pic into a new document, then you save as a jpeg.

a new document is created.... no cellphone bar-code, connecting crazy dots/your busted bullshit....

but that's just me....

redivider said:

i would never upload a mobile pic...

if you take the pic, don't text/email it through your cell... try uploading it through a cable to your computer... then use photoshop or paint to copy/paste the pic into a new document, then you save as a jpeg.

a new document is created.... no cellphone bar-code, connecting crazy dots/your busted bullshit....

but that's just me....

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That's what i was thinkin yesterday...thanks for the advice my friend.

I'm pretty sure it's just with iPhones, it might be others as well though.

if you upload it to the internet, or send the pics, all carriers can triangulate through the towers to give an approx. location of the cell phone when the pics were uploaded......

Do what redivider said.. We know the technology is out there, and we know shit like the Patriot Act are out there.. Mobile companies handing over info to the feds just got tossed through the news recently..

redivider said:

if you upload it to the internet, or send the pics, all carriers can triangulate through the towers to give an approx. location of the cell phone when the pics were uploaded......

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They can do this.....but ONLY at the very moment you upload the pic. Other than that, nada. Oh, and BTW Redivider. You have to manually go in and strip/delete the EXIF meta-data from an image file. Just using photoshop or any other image manipulation program, or cutting and pasting does NOT remove the EXIF data. It follows the image everywhere and has been used in court for many reasons including to establish who took the pic (make & model of the Camera, exposure info), when and where it was taken etc. That suggestion is gonna get someone busted. Please don't state shit as fact when you are not certain of your facts, or are repeating something you may have read on another forum. We have enough misinformation flying around as it is.

born2killspam said:

Do what redivider said.. We know the technology is out there, and we know shit like the Patriot Act are out there.. Mobile companies handing over info to the feds just got tossed through the news recently..

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Yeah, PATRIOT is bad, FISA is bad, but the likelyhood of any local agency or Cop invoking PATRIOT or FISA to investigate you, even as a grower, is extremely remote, almost to the point of "it aint happening". It costs a whole lot of money to utilize most technology, and we aint the only ones feeling the pinch in this financial crisis. LEO everywhere is facing crippling budget cuts. They are mostly relying on the fact that the public BELIEVES that LEO is as good as NCIS or CSI. The fact that John Q Public is aware that the technology exists is more of a deterrent than the actual use of that technology. They rely on the publics "ignorance" of the technology. This thread is an excellent case in point.

Guys, rather than live in fear about the cops and thier use of technology, google the technology, learn it, understand it's use and it's limitations.

To answer the question, Yes, camera pics can (and often do) contain GPS data. All "smart phones" (Black Jack, Blackberry, IPhone, etc) have that capability, and in the case of my Blackberry, I had to turn that feature OFF! It's on by default!!!
Make it a law graven in stone. NO CELL PHONE PICS of the girls. PERIOD!!
Better safe than sorry.

Download GIMP program, you can strip all info from ur pics before posting.

CrackerJax said:

Download GIMP program, you can strip all info from ur pics before posting.

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Thats a GREAT program, IF you are running Linux instead of Windows. It can be done, but I aint sure how reliably. It's a UNIX program for UNIX based OS's.
Windows users can just use Photo Shop or Adobe Lightroom. You can alter the metadata with both programs.
My point is that it MUST be done manually. Nothing automatically strips or alters the EXIF data.

I use GIMP and I have windows XP running ... no worries.

Actually last pirate, what redivider said would erase all exif data.. He proposed taking a picture of a picture.. Essentially copy the visible pixels into a clipboard bitmap, and paste those pixels into a file blank of all metadata..
EXIF data is not encoded into the actual image.. Charlie from Numb3rs could not extrapolate that data from the pixels themselves..
And I agree that pot growers really don't need to be worried about Echelon etc, but Joe Cop who ends up intercepting pics of your grow knows there may be publically available trackable data in the file..

GIMP strips the EXIF download it. it's FREE!

GIMP is definately a master in the domain, but there is more out there than just GIMP that can do that.. ImageMagick/GraphicsMagick can erase specific tags from large numbers of files batch style with a command-line app I know.. (Can do a ton more in batch too!) And most photo viewers allow you to edit certain tags..
But if you just want to quickly clear a picture of anything incriminating you don't need any software that isn't included on a fresh installation of Windows..

I'm sure there's more out there, but i have found GIMP to be a great program that is free and only a two minute download.

It does a heck of a lot more for ur pics, but I'm into photography in general, and some ppl here are not. Hence the cellphone pics...

I agree that GIMP is a great program, no doubt about it. I have it (and use it) on my Linux machines. Never tried to load it into windows, never had to.

That being said, why would one be so rash as to let other people in their grow rooms period, let alone with a cell phone? If dude was talking about taking his own pics and sending them, does he not own a camera? Ya dont need 12 mega pixels to take pics for a forum.
Yeah, it's a pain. you gotta load them to a PC (or MAC) and email them like that, you cant just send it in a message, but then, stripping XIF data can't be done on your phone either. My concern is that the XIF data of a phone cam can contain the carrier info and the subscribers personal info as well. Or info that can lead back to the carrier. Remember, the locals are getting kids for sex-ting as we speak.
Pics and EXIF/XIF Data are the least of the worries with cell phones and growing. NO CELL PHONES NEAR MY OP!! Not even mine. 'course, my grow is 20 miles away from the house.

I take my pics at one of the lowest settings, and they render just fine on the web. no uploading probs due to large files.

Bottom line, if you are concerned at all with security, allow NO CELL PHONES PERIOD anywhere near your op.

That sounds sensible to me.