Read this before you post your next Selfie

When you take a photo your device adds lots of "hidden" information to the photo. You may not be aware that it can even include the GPS coordinates of where you took the photo, your phone details, date time ....

Are there opportunities here for the Hive Community, and Hive DApps?

Photo by Jeremy Bezanger on Unsplash

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Famous Data Leaks

Photo Metadata and the risks of leaking it are not new.

• Back in 2012 John Mcafee (The Security Pioneer) famously gave his location away with a photo metadata
  Oops! Did Vice Just Give Away John McAfee's Location With Photo Metadata?

• More recently a Sicilian Gangster hiding out in Spain was arrested on the foot of Google Street View Images
  Italian mafia fugitive arrested in Spain after Google Street View sighting
  Even without metadata with just the image it's possible to locate people.

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For a really interesting expose on this topic you can read more at the following links

• How a Photo's Hidden 'Exif' Data Exposes Your Personal Information
• Privacy Implications of EXIF Data

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Web 2 and Web 3

One of the key differences between Web 2 and Web 3 platforms is Data Ownership.

The ideal on Web 3 is that you own your data. Just like anything linked to the Blockchain this puts a burden on you to secure your data.

Web 2 Platforms like Facebook, et al are data hoovers and I am sure they make use of this metadata when you post to their platforms but at least they have some protections in place to stop the data being shared publicly.

The following table gives an overview of what happens when you share a photo on some of the big web 2 platforms. (Probably a bit out of date)

• In addition to removing hidden metadata there are also other protections in place on Web 2 platforms. Images like on Google street view have faces blurred.

Sometimes its good to be Paranoid ...

Even if platforms like Facebook provide protection and remove the metadata from public view you should still take extra precautions. We have little visibility about how they store or use this data internally. A data breach and you could still be at risk.

Anywhere you upload a photo you should assume its at risk. Even if its private.

EXIF data (EXchangeable Image File)

This is the hidden data that is so valuable hidden in photos but as the Google Street view example shows just the picture might be enough for hackers.

Image Files

EXIF data is hidden but easily accessible and every social media user taking an innocent selfie for their profile picture should be aware that your photo may include the location of this image (Your Bedroom, Your Living Room, Your Kitchen)

Photo by Apostolos Vamvouras on Unsplash

• When you upload a photo to any of the apps, the photo is not stored on the Hive Blockchain but a link to the image. Different Hive users use different image hosting services. Check how your hosting service deals with EXIF data.

If you don't make a conscious choice here it probably means your using the service provided by the Dapp. i.e. @peakd @ecency are the two more popular apps that provide this service. I believe these remove EXIF data on upload but I have not confirmed this.

Video Files

EXIF doesnt seem to be as much of a security issue for Video files.

Ask the Hive

Thankfully people on #Hive are very security conscious and most probably have location settings turned off on their phones and other devices but it is in the interest of the community to address this. Security and Accountability are two of the barriers to mass adoption of Web3 and could be yet another selling point of Hive.

Most people require a level of protection from themselves. Especially young and vulnerable people.

Remember what goes on the Blockchain stays on the Blockchain!

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• This post is my daily contribution to a challenge by @dragosroua to "publish a meaningful post every day of January"
  Who's Up For A January Writing Streak?

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During January I am visiting different communities virtually on Hive to see where I get the most engagement, and which inspire me most to write. Where I get the biggest welcome I might stick around :)

I hope you enjoyed this post to the Hive Improvment Community as I think this will be of interest to the community. There are huge opportunities for Hive to pioneer Data Security and Privacy technology on the Blockchain.

If you would like to follow me to hear more I write mainly about Blockchain and Crypto but this month I am really going to explore different communities on Hive so my posts will be quite varied.