# Security Smarts, Removing information from photos



## sunni (Oct 22, 2015)

Prior to uploading on riu you can remove sensitive security information from your photos.
Most regular cameras will displace things like time,shutter speed etc.
However iphones and androids and other cellular devices often leave behind a GPS trail in the photos possible outing your location. It is best to remove your location so you can have peace of mind.

Generally our users would not disclose your location nor look for it, however this simple trick will help you to have peace of mind 

You will need the use of a computer to upload your photos onto from your mobile device.
Excuse my goofy looking dog . 

*STEP 1:*
Open the photo , and right hand click "Properties (highlighted below)"

 

*STEP 2:*
Click the circled area "Remove properties & Personal Information"


*STEP 3:* Click " Remove the following properties from this file" and then click "Select All" & "Okay" 
Now you're ready to upload!


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## ttystikk (Oct 22, 2015)

I was under the impression that RIU stripped metadata from attached files? Is this not true?


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## mr sunshine (Oct 22, 2015)

Great information, thank you sunni.


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## sunni (Oct 22, 2015)

ttystikk said:


> I was under the impression that RIU stripped metadata from attached files? Is this not true?


nope ive personally seen people pull metadata, to claim photoshop on peoples bud shots


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## vostok (Oct 22, 2015)

Lots of fingerprints on here too ...ID theft is a growing biz ...my2c


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## sunni (Oct 22, 2015)

lets not make people more paranoid than they already are, this isnt a discussion thread its a how to. 
thats it. questions on how to will be answered here, 
dont hijack support threads please


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## dangledo (Oct 22, 2015)

Does a screen shot on a pic contain data?


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## sunni (Oct 22, 2015)

dangledo said:


> Does a screen shot on a pic contain data?


the most anyone needs to be concerned about is what i previous stated, just iphones, androids, cellular devices, they often contain a GPS location in the file data , it does take some sort of knowledge to exact these informations, but i know alot of people have asked how to do it.

things like shutter speed, and what computer or resolution arent going to give up your personal security

If it helps these particular photos were indeed screenshots from my computer and contained little information


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## dangledo (Oct 22, 2015)

Duly noted.


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## vfwvn (Dec 4, 2015)

I like my pic... hope it works out...


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## Indagrow (Dec 4, 2015)

I ate a Baconater last night and felt very similar to that chick..pure agony


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## innerG (Dec 29, 2015)

*To prevent your iPhone or iPad from saving location data in photos, you can follow these simple steps:*
Open up the Settings app.
Navigate to Privacy > Location Services.
You'll see a list of apps. Tap on Camera and then select Never.


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## whitebb2727 (Dec 29, 2015)

It depends on model of phone.

Turn location off in settings.

Anyone concerned you can get exif viewer from the play store. It shows all data. With location off on my particular phone the GPS location is blank.

It only shows basic info about the camera. 
Also some new regular cameras store GPS location.

Good info sunni.

Edit. I downloaded random pics from the site and used exif viewer and data was not there.


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## ttystikk (Dec 29, 2015)

whitebb2727 said:


> It depends on model of phone.
> 
> Turn location off in settings.
> 
> ...


Good to know.


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## Oregon Gardener (Dec 29, 2015)

ttystikk said:


> I was under the impression that RIU stripped metadata from attached files? Is this not true?


Does this mean that everybody can see that I'm from Oregon?


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## hyroot (Dec 29, 2015)

There's apps that will wipe any data from the pics too. I forget what it's called. I haven't used them. I know people who do.


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## hyroot (Dec 29, 2015)

Oregon Gardener said:


> Does this mean that everybody can see that I'm from Oregon?


Bahahahahaha shhhh


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## TerpCylia (Dec 31, 2015)

hyroot said:


> There's apps that will wipe any data from the pics too. I forget what it's called. I haven't used them. I know people who do.


First I wondered if a screenshot would keep the metadata but it would only change the location I believe not delete the info all together. I also read that safari does it by default. Check out this site, shows you all the metadata and more.

http://fotoforensics.com/faq.php

"During the file upload, Mobile Safari actively strips out all metadata and re-compresses the picture at a low quality. This means that the analyzers on this site will provide virtually no useful information about your picture. For example, Error Level Analysis and JPEG % will identify the resave by Safari and not the original picture. Mobile Safari also strips out the original metadata and substitutes its own, so metadata analysis will be of little use. "

Oh and heres that APP. its called *Ready Or Not?

http://app.teachingprivacy.com/
*
I opted out of the location services when I first downloaded IG because I'm paranoid by nature(I have a piece of tape on my webcam at home...).


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## TerpCylia (Dec 31, 2015)

Upon further investigation I found that you can block your camera on you iphone from collecting your location all together. Which I guess I had done when I first got my phone.(I'm paranoid, did I mention that?)

Go to:
*Settings > General > Restrictions > Location Services > Camera(or which ever app you want) and select Never.*


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## t3hmobster (Jan 29, 2016)

TerpCylia said:


> Upon further investigation I found that you can block your camera on you iphone from collecting your location all together. Which I guess I had done when I first got my phone.(I'm paranoid, did I mention that?)
> 
> Go to:
> *Settings > General > Restrictions > Location Services > Camera(or which ever app you want) and select Never.*


Do you happen know how to remove all this information on a mac?


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## sunni (Jan 29, 2016)

t3hmobster said:


> Do you happen know how to remove all this information on a mac?


what you quoted was for iphone instructions. which is different from a PC/MAC as its a hand held cellular device.
do you just want to know how to remove information from your mac computer...?


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## t3hmobster (Jan 30, 2016)

sunni said:


> what you quoted was for iphone instructions. which is different from a PC/MAC as its a hand held cellular device.
> do you just want to know how to remove information from your mac computer...?


That is correct, I have a lot of photos on my MAC from my DSLR but have no idea how to remove the information. I am a pretty new user to MAC OS. Always been a PC user ha.


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## sunni (Jan 30, 2016)

t3hmobster said:


> That is correct, I have a lot of photos on my MAC from my DSLR but have no idea how to remove the information. I am a pretty new user to MAC OS. Always been a PC user ha.


I do not use Mac I bet you though if you google remove metadata From photos on Mac you'll find the answer

The cameras like dslr they don't show much information I have one they show basics like what camera it was the color of the camera your camera settings your shutter speed 

It's iPhones and cellular photos that people need to be cautious about those are the ones that leak your location should you not have your cellular locations turned off
It mostly happens when people forget to turn it off after using something like iPhone maps

The DSLRs don't have gps on them so you wouldn't have to worry if you are still worried google what I wrote above should get detailed info 
Sorry I'm not a Mac user therefore I can't test out how to do it


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## t3hmobster (Feb 1, 2016)

sunni said:


> I do not use Mac I bet you though if you google remove metadata From photos on Mac you'll find the answer
> 
> The cameras like dslr they don't show much information I have one they show basics like what camera it was the color of the camera your camera settings your shutter speed
> 
> ...


hey thank you so much for the response, guess I wasn't really thinking about that fact that gps isn't enabled into the DSLR photos. Guess i've just always been extremely use to using my iPhone and droid for my pictures. Thank you a great deal for the information though


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## Sali-D (Apr 6, 2016)

Even if location services is on it doesn't pin point your location, only the suburb your in at the time....that's what I see anyway from looking at my photos ....correct me if I'm wrong?


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## sunni (Apr 6, 2016)

Sali-D said:


> Even if location services is on it doesn't pin point your location, only the suburb your in at the time....that's what I see anyway from looking at my photos ....correct me if I'm wrong?


Dependant on the phone
And where the photo was taken 
If it's a major landmark or not as well

Either way that's all really neither here nor there people simply don't want that much information out onto rollitup 
So we've created a guide to take it off


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## MrStickyScissors (Apr 6, 2016)

sunni said:


> nope ive personally seen people pull metadata, to claim photoshop on peoples bud shots


People photo shop bud shots. Whats the world coming to


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## innerG (Apr 6, 2016)

MrStickyScissors said:


> People photo shop bud shots. Whats the world coming to


Photoshop can be used for many things, even just cropping/resizing pictures, fixing bad exposures or trying to correct the color given off from HPS lights. Just because an image was in Photoshop doesn't mean it's faked.


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## Super Silverback (Oct 17, 2016)

So if I send picture from I-phone with location settings off its ok?


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## sunni (Oct 17, 2016)

Super Silverback said:


> So if I send picture from I-phone with location settings off its ok?


yup


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## OldMedUser (Nov 2, 2016)

Sali-D said:


> Even if location services is on it doesn't pin point your location, only the suburb your in at the time....that's what I see anyway from looking at my photos ....correct me if I'm wrong?


Wrong! EXIF data can pinpoint your location to 3 meters or less from pics from any phone or digi cam that has it's GPS turned on. For phones just turn off the location function or set it to use GPS only if 911 is dialed.

Use StartPage to "Google" stuff. It goes thru Google but doesn't track your IP like Google.

On a PC/Mac or certain phones then use TOR to go to places like this where you would rather not be tracked. Once you have TOR go get a phony email and use that here too.

Rippers and cops are always snooping around for clues so leave as few as you can to be safe!


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## texasjack (Dec 9, 2016)

Ahemait said:


> Why does this site not allow users to delete their accounts?
> 
> What do the owners gain from retaining user info? Wonder if they offer the server logs up for the right price too?


It would be pretty hard to read the forum if half of the thread's posts were missing. That's why.

If you're so scared why are you here?


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## Joomby (Aug 26, 2017)

How can I delete all the photos I have ever posted?


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## OldMedUser (Aug 26, 2017)

Joomby said:


> How can I delete all the photos I have ever posted?


If you've uploaded your pics directly to a site like this then you would need to ask someone in Admin like Sunni but it's very unlikely they will remove them as it leaves holes in threads. Same with posts so if someone wants to delete their account the posts will remain.

If your pics are all on a host site like Photobucket etc then you can delete them any old time.

Generally once something is posted it's been picked up by bots in a very short time and is out there forever with billions of other posts and pics. Unless someone is targeting you they are just a mote of dust in a galaxy with trillions of motes and unlikely to be noticed.


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## Dr.Amber Trichome (Aug 26, 2017)

OldMedUser said:


> Wrong! EXIF data can pinpoint your location to 3 meters or less from pics from any phone or digi cam that has it's GPS turned on. For phones just turn off the location function or set it to use GPS only if 911 is dialed.
> 
> Use StartPage to "Google" stuff. It goes thru Google but doesn't track your IP like Google.
> 
> ...


How do I add smartpage to my safari search engine choices in the settings on my phone? 
Thanks for the information about location and camera photos . I did have mine on and always found it to be a very annoying feature. I was curious about its function but never took the time to look around in my settings to see it's origination. I was able to easily turn it off with your instructions.


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## OldMedUser (Aug 26, 2017)

It's called Startpage Doc. Can't help you with the phones tho as I never owned one. Got an older flip phone that gathers dust most of the time and I just pack around in case of emergencies. It's set to only use GPS when 911 is dialed and I have a digi cam for pics that doesn't have GPS at all but it does have Manual White Balance so I can take pics under any light that look like normal.


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## Joomby (Aug 26, 2017)

OldMedUser said:


> If you've uploaded your pics directly to a site like this then you would need to ask someone in Admin like Sunni but it's very unlikely they will remove them as it leaves holes in threads. Same with posts so if someone wants to delete their account the posts will remain.
> 
> If your pics are all on a host site like Photobucket etc then you can delete them any old time.
> 
> Generally once something is posted it's been picked up by bots in a very short time and is out there forever with billions of other posts and pics. Unless someone is targeting you they are just a mote of dust in a galaxy with trillions of motes and unlikely to be noticed.


Cheers man. I have reported the pics in question they might be kind enough to move them


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## TreeFarmerCharlie (Mar 31, 2020)

I know this is an old thread, but is this still the case? I found this while trying to find if RIU strips metadata because I would rather post my images, directly here rather than host them on Imgur (so it never disappears here if I delete it from Imgur), but in order for me to do that I would have to load each picture I want to post to Imgur to strip the data, save that back to my phone, and then use that photo to load to the site. I'm glad I found this because I thought it was pretty common practice for growers forums to strip the metadata to protect the location privacy of members. I know I can turn disable location tags in my phone, but I travel a lot for work and use location for easily finding job site photos.


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## OldMedUser (Mar 31, 2020)

I'm not positive but @sunni would probably know for sure if locations are stripped.

I do have a smart phone now but it's smarter than me so I'm not sure what it's up to but I think if you turn off location on your phone, take your pics then turn it back on the location won't be in the pics EXIF file. You can get free EXIF viewers then check and see.

I have backup turned off on the phone so it's sticking my pics in the cloud like it did. Still use my digi cam for any pics I want to be sure about not having locations on them.


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## sunni (Apr 2, 2020)

im here sorry, let me see


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## sunni (Apr 2, 2020)

ima say no it doesnt because i can pull it off my photos


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## GrassBurner (Apr 9, 2020)

My Galaxy S8 has the option in the gallery settings to turn off time and location of pictures taken.


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## TreeFarmerCharlie (Apr 10, 2020)

GrassBurner said:


> My Galaxy S8 has the option in the gallery settings to turn off time and location of pictures taken.


All phones do. The problem with that is that many people, myself included, like having location tags in place so they can find photos from when they travel. Having the site do this, automatically, would be a great service to the members because many people don’t realize they are revealing their growing locations when they upload photos. I personally take every picture I want to share here, upload it to Imgur, then download that photo, and load it to this site. It’s a pain for me to do but it’s they only way I’ve found, so far, that doesn’t require me to send the photos to a PC to be stripped of their location data.


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## Yesyes3000 (Apr 10, 2020)

sunni said:


> Prior to uploading on riu you can remove sensitive security information from your photos.
> Most regular cameras will displace things like time,shutter speed etc.
> However iphones and androids and other cellular devices often leave behind a GPS trail in the photos possible outing your location. It is best to remove your location so you can have peace of mind.
> 
> ...


Awesome info bro thank you !
P.S. to respond to your thing about “putting out ones location “ I’ve seen pictures before of peoples grows and there always some cardboard box thats always being used to support something in the grow and you can zoom in and see the address on the box lol


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## TreeFarmerCharlie (Apr 10, 2020)

@sunni Would it be possible for you guys to look into this free XenForo Add-On? This seems to do exactly what we are asking about and I think it would be a great service to those who don't realize they are uploading images that reveal where they live or have grow ops.









Attachment Improvements By Xon


A collection of improvements to XF's attachment system. Option to strip jpeg EXIF data SVG support Nginx's X-Accel-Redirect New Permissions for forum/conversations (Respects global attachment size & count limits): Attachment Size (kb). Maximum...




xenforo.com


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## sunni (Apr 11, 2020)

TreeFarmerCharlie said:


> @sunni Would it be possible for you guys to look into this free XenForo Add-On? This seems to do exactly what we are asking about and I think it would be a great service to those who don't realize they are uploading images that reveal where they live or have grow ops.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It’s possible I could forward it to the admin


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## TreeFarmerCharlie (Apr 11, 2020)

sunni said:


> It’s possible I could forward it to the admin


Much appreciated, thanks!


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