Posting Clean Pictures Online

[mibrains]

so i was asking and then was also asked by a community member about the security of the data attached to pictures posted online.

 

i found this excellent information site with directions and links for free data removal.

 

http://www.labnol.org/software/remove-photograph-metadata/19588/

 

i tested the windows explorer - properties - details idea and i was able to clean all the personal identifying information imbedded in the photo.

 

 

An Alternative Way to Remove EXIF Information

 

If the photographs are in one folder, you can easily remove the EXIF data from one or more of these photographs using Windows Explorer itself without requiring any additional software.

Select all the images files, right click and choose Properties. Now hit the Details tab and click on the “Remove Properties and Personal Information” link. The next screen will give you an option to remove the various metadata that is embedded inside the pictures. Simple.

 

 

i highly recommend anyone who uploads photos to the WWW cleanse them of any personally identifiable information..

 

particularly if your posting pictures of cannabis.

 

hope this helps..

[t-pain]

sometimes its easier to hit print screen button, open mspaint (aka paintbrush) and hit paste.

then save to a new file.

assuming paintbrush doesnt have its own identifying data.

 

instead of print screen button, which will take your whole desktop, you can try using the keyboard or mouse to go to edit > copy when you view your image. or hit ctrl+c on keyboard.

 

open up mspaint and hit ctrl+v or edit>paste with the mouse.

Edited January 17, 2015 by t-pain

[mibrains]

excellent T..

 

i would welcome any information that would help folks protect their personal data online...

 

seems like lately identity theft has caught up to actual theft in the world...

 

i appreciate the feedback t.

[hic]

Yes I believe this issue is important. I think it is very important. With this data even the picture of your cat from facebook they can find you on here.

 

You need not take a pic of a pot plant the servers already know where you are...correct.

 

In this age of numbers and codes we must learn all we can.

 

I personally do not fear for myself. I however do care for the ones around me and these thieves/criminals are getting smarter as their tools are as well for information gathering.

 

I know nothing of computers much like politics but both seem to influence my life. So I should try to learn a bit more. This thread will help perhaps - thanks mibrians

[Insomniac]

UNIX users can use the 'pnmtools' package to strip out identifying information.

 

For jpeg, it's super easy! you don't even need the pnmutils, just djpeg/cjpeg (which are pretty common)

 

Something like:

 

  $ djpeg -pmn <infile.jpg | cjpeg >outfile.jpg

  $ mv outfile.jpg infile.jpg

 

What this does is convert a jpeg file to an intermediate pnm file, piping it into cjpeg and converts it back to a jpeg.

 

The intermediate pnm format doesn't include identifiable info.

 

The mv is optional, of course.

 

The beauty of this system is that you can easily automate it to strip out exif data from ooodles of jpeg files w/out having to process each one by hand.

[Kingdiamond]

Imageshack.com

[suneday11]

Any updates on data removal? I'd love to do a journal to help/get help from you kind people, but the Internet has me a little worried.

[bobandtorey]

I agree they are watching us all

[t-pain]

you can use ffmpeg to quickly and easily strip data.

ffmpeg works on all operating systems and is free.

http://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/win32/static/ffmpeg-latest-win32-static.7z

(7z is like zip and can download it http://www.7-zip.orgfor free.)

 

ffmpeg -i input.jpg output.jpg

 

it is a command line tool, and that command will reencode the jpg to a new file, so you may lose some quality.

 

if you are on windows, you can make a .bat file with this:

c:\ffmpeg.exe -i "%1" "%1"-dataremoved.jpg

c:\ffmpeg.exe -i "%2" "%2"-dataremoved.jpg

c:\ffmpeg.exe -i "%3" "%3"-dataremoved.jpg

c:\ffmpeg.exe -i "%4" "%4"-dataremoved.jpg

c:\ffmpeg.exe -i "%5" "%5"-dataremoved.jpg

c:\ffmpeg.exe -i "%6" "%6"-dataremoved.jpg

c:\ffmpeg.exe -i "%7" "%7"-dataremoved.jpg

c:\ffmpeg.exe -i "%8" "%8"-dataremoved.jpg

c:\ffmpeg.exe -i "%9" "%9"-dataremoved.jpg

 

and then dragging and dropping (up to 9) images onto the .bat file will work.

 

here is an example:

 

C:\>exiftool 20150113_160206.jpg

ExifTool Version Number : 6.94

File Name : 20150113_160206.jpg

Directory : .

File Size : 3 MB

File Modification Date/Time : 2015:01:13 19:02:06

File Type : JPEG

MIME Type : image/jpeg

Make : SAMSUNG

Camera Model Name : SG-155

Orientation : Rotate 180

X Resolution : 72

Y Resolution : 72

Resolution Unit : inches

Software : A150R2444

Modify Date : 2015:01:13 16:02:05

Y Cb Cr Positioning : Centered

Exposure Time : 1/15

F Number : 2.2

Exposure Program : Program AE

ISO : 100

Exif Version : 0220

Date/Time Original : 2015:01:13 16:02:05

Create Date : 2015:01:13 16:02:05

Components Configuration : YCbCr

Shutter Speed Value : 1/15

Aperture Value : 2.2

Brightness Value : 0.9804687

Exposure Compensation : 0

Max Aperture Value : 2.2

Metering Mode : Center-weighted average

Light Source : Unknown (0)

Flash : No Flash

Focal Length : 4.2mm

Warning : [minor] Possibly incorrect

User Comment : METADATA-START

Flashpix Version : 0100

Color Space : sRGB

Exif Image Width : 4128

Exif Image Length : 2322

Interoperability Index : R98 - DCF basic file (sRGB)

Interoperability Version : 0100

Sensing Method : One-chip color area

Scene Type : Directly photographed

Exposure Mode : Auto

White Balance : Auto

Focal Length In 35mm Format : 31mm

Scene Capture Type : Standard

Image Unique ID : SA10FMHKE16

Compression : JPEG (old-style)

Thumbnail Offset : 5114

Thumbnail Length : 35783

Image Width : 4128

Image Height : 2322

Encoding Process : Baseline DCT, Huffman coding

Bits Per Sample : 8

Color Components : 3

Y Cb Cr Sub Sampling : YCbCr4:2:0 (2 2)

Aperture : 2.2

Image Size : 4128x2322

Scale Factor To 35mm Equivalent : 7.4

Shutter Speed : 1/15

Thumbnail Image : (Binary data 35783 bytes, use -b option to extract)

Circle Of Confusion : 0.004 mm

Focal Length : 4.2mm (35mm equivalent: 31.0mm)

Hyperfocal Distance : 1.97 m

Light Value : 6.2

 

so we run ffmpeg on the original file,

C:\>ffmpeg -i 20150113_160206.jpg output.jpg

 

then we check the output file and see what it says:

 

C:\>exiftool output.jpg

ExifTool Version Number : 6.94

File Name : output.jpg

Directory : .

File Size : 362 kB

File Modification Date/Time : 2015:01:15 15:35:05

File Type : JPEG

MIME Type : image/jpeg

Comment : Lavc55.43.101

Image Width : 4128

Image Height : 2322

Encoding Process : Baseline DCT, Huffman coding

Bits Per Sample : 8

Color Components : 3

Y Cb Cr Sub Sampling : YCbCr4:2:0 (2 2)

Image Size : 4128x2322

 

no more metadata.

 

reencoding it, the filesize is much smaller, but the resolution is the same.

this makes uploading photos easier, as the filesize is smaller and some sites limit image filesize.

 

01/13/2015 07:02 PM 3,253,320 20150113_160206.jpg

01/15/2015 03:35 PM 370,403 output.jpg

 

you can also use ffmpeg to resize the photos.

ffmpeg -i input.jpg -s 800x600 output.jpg

[Blkwlf]

mibrains: TYVM for bringing this topic to the forefront. It's a huge worry for all of us whether here on MMM or anywhere else.

T-pain: Always a wealth of info. happy to see you here.

Everyone else: "HYA" Been a while since I've logged on. Brief update: My 2017 outdoor grow didn't go so well but had plenty for my patients which is what matters anyhow. Finally have an indoor grow which I've gotten from cut into flower without mites, mildew, etc. It's only taken me 3 years!! Took the advice I got here, bombed the heck out of my grow rooms, left the rooms empty of plants/plant material for over 2 months while bombing periodically and changed to Miracle Grow instead of the harder sterile soils and nutrients. The thieves DID come back and tried to hit my outdoor grow w/o success and w/o their vehicle.....lol Neighbor watch helped. Someone, and I never asked who, took the valves out of all the tires on the vehicle!! They must have been hiding out in the cold and wet waiting for a ride for some time because I got the name/address of the owner of the vehicle from the tow truck driver and they came a long way for nothing last fall.

With everyone having access to satellite pictures of anyone's property, there's no way to hide an outdoor grow from anyone. Now there's a security tip I'ld be interested in....how to keep satellite photos of my property off the Internet!

Three things I believe lead to lesser outdoor grow. Idiot me didn't think to reconstitute the nutrients in the soil until too late, got plants in late and got some kind of blight which stunted my plants and caused entire branches to just dry up and die off. I had a huge issue with huge grasshoppers which, though they didn't go after my plants, had to be here for some food source which hadn't been plentiful enough to attract them in the past. Security worked though so...on I go for another year. :-)

I couldn't have gotten this far w/o the support I've found here. Thank you everyone! Blkwlf