9 ms·

ExifLooter – finds geolocation info on all URLs and directories

70 points by socketpuppets 4y ago

liberia 4y ago
I religiously strip metadata with ExifCleaner[0]. Thankfully old cameras don’t have GPS sensors, but with the new ones you have to be careful, including smartphone cameras. Metadata in images serves no other purpose than invading privacy. That and being able to sort media by location, time, etc [0] https://exifcleaner.com/ https://exifcleaner.com/
- willcipriano 4y ago
  > Metadata in images serves no other purpose than invading privacy I don't upload my photos anywhere public. I keep metadata on so I can sort them by location. Uploading photos to the public web is really what is invading your privacy.
  - freedomben 4y ago
    Exactly. It serves great purpose to me. I love being able to see exactly where a photo was taken. I have cherished vacation photos from many years ago and I don't remember where we were. When location data is there, I can pinpoint the exact trail or campsite, even when it was very remote. There are also photos of my kids where I'm not sure which house/area we were living in at the time. Location data solves this. Since the location information can easily be removed but is extremely difficult to add, the clear solution to me seems to be to strip it when not wanted, and only upload your photo to trusted services. Most legit services will strip the info anyway (facebook, slack for example).
    - willcipriano 4y ago
      If you followed the story of Shia LaBeouf's "He Will Not Divide Us" where they used things like aircraft flight paths to find the location of a flagpole that moved multiple times, it isn't clear that stripping metadata will save you anyway. I assume anything that I post will leak the location for a dedicated enough person.
- socketpuppets 4y ago
  Thank you for your idea. I can add new parameter like "exiftool --image image.jpeg --remove" to remove all metadata from the image.
  - b5n 4y ago
    How does this differ from `exiftool -all= image.jpeg`? Would it actually _remove_ the data rather than overwriting it? The difference isn't apparent to me from the parent comment or skimming the exifcleaner site/readme.
    - socketpuppets 4y ago
      Why `exiftool -all= image.jpeg` is not enough ? or I think overwrite the metadata with the empty ones will be okay
      - b5n 4y ago
        What is the difference between `exiftool --image image.jpeg --remove` and `exiftool -all= image.jpeg`? It sounds like there is a benefit in adding the `--remove` flag but it's not clear to me what it is. Thanks!
        socketpuppets 4y ago
        I added remove metadata from images on exifLooter https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter
    - socketpuppets 4y ago
      Oh I type wrong. I mean adding remove parameter on my CLI tool like `exifLooter --remove --image=image.jpeg`
- cronix 4y ago
  > Metadata in images serves no other purpose than invading privacy. That's not true as a blanket statement. If it weren't for gps metadata, photogrammetry[1] would be very difficult. I am able to make my own "google earth" type maps with a much higher degree of detail because I can fly my drone 100 feet over the land and take thousands of gps-stamped pics vs outdated google maps satellite imagery and then get them all stitched together to make a large GeoTIFF. All the processing is done on my PC using opensource WebODM[2], which can then be imported into opensource QGIS where accurate elevation data can be added. It also creates textured 3d models of the land and buildings which can then be imported into opensource 3d apps like Blender. It's been a huge boost. I also like being able to show all of my various images on a map to see where they were taken. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photogrammetry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photogrammetry [2] WebODM quick 3D demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3pMJR-L0Gk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3pMJR-L0Gk
- socketpuppets 4y ago
  I added remove metadata from images on exifLooter https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter
mistrial9 4y ago
why is spying on others "valuable" ? how is it not just obsession-material at the individual level and security-state building at the social level? one existential answer to this is -- "security" must be constant by its nature. Over time, budgets, training and attention settle to a lowest-common-denominator of "security" while authorship, initiative, marks of individuality and evolution fall by the wayside in the murk of "responding to threats" .. while insecurity and overwhelm in an individual push towards addiction and obsession. Basically, viewed one way, this hack tool feeds a public movement towards funding constant security while there are provable deficits of resources and attention in many directions. As an American I heard stories of the "awful" East German communist state with Stazi informants, yet similar reinforcing dynamics seem to be in play now in the "free world" ..
2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
Could be useful for revenge porn dumps and AnonIB, newchan, etc. Lots of leaked nude photos still contain Lat Lon data.
- socketpuppets 4y ago
  How it is useful ? If victim takes the photo of herself/himself. This tool get the victim's location or metadata.
  - popcalc 4y ago
    He forgot this wasn't /g/
tppiotrowski 4y ago
So if I take a photo with my iPhone and upload the photo using a web form, does the website get the exif data (GPS coordinates) or does Safari strip that prior to upload?
- snoopy_telex 4y ago
  I believe the website gets it all.
- freedomben 4y ago
  The website gets it. Safari does not strip it. IMHO that's the correct thing to do. Maintaining GPS coords is highly desirable when uploading photos to your photo storage solution. It would be very sad if they were all lost. Most web apps (such as facebook, slack) will strip the exif data though, so you don't always need to worry about it.
  - semicolon_storm 4y ago
    Depends who you're worried about having the EXIF data. Sure Facebook strips the EXIF before rehosting the image for others to consume, but given Facebook's nature I'm certain they use the EXIF data to track you. If you don't want Facebook knowing exactly where you were at a given datetime, you'll still want to manually strip the EXIF before uploading.
    - account-5 4y ago
      Or don't upload pictures to Facebook.
  - aendruk 4y ago
    Seems like a nice feature of the browser would be to tell you when you’re uploading location data and offer to strip it.
    - blooalien 4y ago
      That *does* seem like it'd be a nice feature, and maybe even not that hard to implement. Mebbe some crafty developer could build a feature like that as a browser "add-on" / plugin.
gondo 4y ago
Looking through the code, this is mostly wrapper around exiftool.
- socketpuppets 4y ago
  Yes. Added on READ.me Thanks to fahrradflucht for contribution
- socketpuppets 4y ago
  I added remove metadata from images on exifLooter https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter
nibbleshifter 4y ago
Capture all images from your browsing using mitmproxy and auto pass to this could be fun. Have it log the source url, etc?
- socketpuppets 4y ago
  There is an extension on Burp Suite do exactly your idea. https://portswigger.net/bappstore/3996aa01e0474b1a990db586a7f14ab7 https://portswigger.net/bappstore/3996aa01e0474b1a990db586a7...
socketpuppets 4y ago
I added remove metadata from images on exifLooter https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter

70 points by socketpuppets 4y ago

I religiously strip metadata with ExifCleaner[0]. Thankfully old cameras don’t have GPS sensors, but with the new ones you have to be careful, including smartphone cameras. Metadata in images serves no other purpose than invading privacy. That and being able to sort media by location, time, etc [0] https://exifcleaner.com/ https://exifcleaner.com/

willcipriano 4y ago
> Metadata in images serves no other purpose than invading privacy I don't upload my photos anywhere public. I keep metadata on so I can sort them by location. Uploading photos to the public web is really what is invading your privacy.
- freedomben 4y ago
  Exactly. It serves great purpose to me. I love being able to see exactly where a photo was taken. I have cherished vacation photos from many years ago and I don't remember where we were. When location data is there, I can pinpoint the exact trail or campsite, even when it was very remote. There are also photos of my kids where I'm not sure which house/area we were living in at the time. Location data solves this. Since the location information can easily be removed but is extremely difficult to add, the clear solution to me seems to be to strip it when not wanted, and only upload your photo to trusted services. Most legit services will strip the info anyway (facebook, slack for example).
  - willcipriano 4y ago
    If you followed the story of Shia LaBeouf's "He Will Not Divide Us" where they used things like aircraft flight paths to find the location of a flagpole that moved multiple times, it isn't clear that stripping metadata will save you anyway. I assume anything that I post will leak the location for a dedicated enough person.
socketpuppets 4y ago
Thank you for your idea. I can add new parameter like "exiftool --image image.jpeg --remove" to remove all metadata from the image.
- b5n 4y ago
  How does this differ from `exiftool -all= image.jpeg`? Would it actually _remove_ the data rather than overwriting it? The difference isn't apparent to me from the parent comment or skimming the exifcleaner site/readme.
  - socketpuppets 4y ago
    Why `exiftool -all= image.jpeg` is not enough ? or I think overwrite the metadata with the empty ones will be okay
    - b5n 4y ago
      What is the difference between `exiftool --image image.jpeg --remove` and `exiftool -all= image.jpeg`? It sounds like there is a benefit in adding the `--remove` flag but it's not clear to me what it is. Thanks!
      - socketpuppets 4y ago
        I added remove metadata from images on exifLooter https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter
  - socketpuppets 4y ago
    Oh I type wrong. I mean adding remove parameter on my CLI tool like `exifLooter --remove --image=image.jpeg`
cronix 4y ago
> Metadata in images serves no other purpose than invading privacy. That's not true as a blanket statement. If it weren't for gps metadata, photogrammetry[1] would be very difficult. I am able to make my own "google earth" type maps with a much higher degree of detail because I can fly my drone 100 feet over the land and take thousands of gps-stamped pics vs outdated google maps satellite imagery and then get them all stitched together to make a large GeoTIFF. All the processing is done on my PC using opensource WebODM[2], which can then be imported into opensource QGIS where accurate elevation data can be added. It also creates textured 3d models of the land and buildings which can then be imported into opensource 3d apps like Blender. It's been a huge boost. I also like being able to show all of my various images on a map to see where they were taken. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photogrammetry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photogrammetry [2] WebODM quick 3D demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3pMJR-L0Gk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3pMJR-L0Gk
socketpuppets 4y ago
I added remove metadata from images on exifLooter https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter

mistrial9 4y ago

why is spying on others "valuable" ? how is it not just obsession-material at the individual level and security-state building at the social level? one existential answer to this is -- "security" must be constant by its nature. Over time, budgets, training and attention settle to a lowest-common-denominator of "security" while authorship, initiative, marks of individuality and evolution fall by the wayside in the murk of "responding to threats" .. while insecurity and overwhelm in an individual push towards addiction and obsession. Basically, viewed one way, this hack tool feeds a public movement towards funding constant security while there are provable deficits of resources and attention in many directions. As an American I heard stories of the "awful" East German communist state with Stazi informants, yet similar reinforcing dynamics seem to be in play now in the "free world" ..

2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago

Could be useful for revenge porn dumps and AnonIB, newchan, etc. Lots of leaked nude photos still contain Lat Lon data.

socketpuppets 4y ago
How it is useful ? If victim takes the photo of herself/himself. This tool get the victim's location or metadata.
- popcalc 4y ago
  He forgot this wasn't /g/

tppiotrowski 4y ago

So if I take a photo with my iPhone and upload the photo using a web form, does the website get the exif data (GPS coordinates) or does Safari strip that prior to upload?

snoopy_telex 4y ago
I believe the website gets it all.
freedomben 4y ago
The website gets it. Safari does not strip it. IMHO that's the correct thing to do. Maintaining GPS coords is highly desirable when uploading photos to your photo storage solution. It would be very sad if they were all lost. Most web apps (such as facebook, slack) will strip the exif data though, so you don't always need to worry about it.
- semicolon_storm 4y ago
  Depends who you're worried about having the EXIF data. Sure Facebook strips the EXIF before rehosting the image for others to consume, but given Facebook's nature I'm certain they use the EXIF data to track you. If you don't want Facebook knowing exactly where you were at a given datetime, you'll still want to manually strip the EXIF before uploading.
  - account-5 4y ago
    Or don't upload pictures to Facebook.
- aendruk 4y ago
  Seems like a nice feature of the browser would be to tell you when you’re uploading location data and offer to strip it.
  - blooalien 4y ago
    That *does* seem like it'd be a nice feature, and maybe even not that hard to implement. Mebbe some crafty developer could build a feature like that as a browser "add-on" / plugin.

gondo 4y ago

Looking through the code, this is mostly wrapper around exiftool.

socketpuppets 4y ago
Yes. Added on READ.me Thanks to fahrradflucht for contribution
socketpuppets 4y ago
I added remove metadata from images on exifLooter https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter

nibbleshifter 4y ago

Capture all images from your browsing using mitmproxy and auto pass to this could be fun. Have it log the source url, etc?

socketpuppets 4y ago
There is an extension on Burp Suite do exactly your idea. https://portswigger.net/bappstore/3996aa01e0474b1a990db586a7f14ab7 https://portswigger.net/bappstore/3996aa01e0474b1a990db586a7...

socketpuppets 4y ago

I added remove metadata from images on exifLooter https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter