As a real estate agent, it's pretty neat to be able to snap a photo of a home for sale from my smart phone and share it on the internet with a client who might be interested in the property. In addition to that, the client would be able to see the geological location and know if it's somewhere he/she could see theirselves living. Perfect. Geotags and Location-Based Social Networking can certainly have it's advantages.
BUT
With the good, comes the evil...
In today's world we need to be aware of the technology out there and come to terms with the fact that there are people out there who may want to do us harm, just because. Geotags posted on the internet lets everyone who sees it know where you were when you took it, what time you took it and what kind of camera/phone you took it with.
One guy has a story about how he tested his theory on how much information you could gain from a stranger and reports:
On a sunny Saturday, I spotted a woman in Golden Gate Park taking a photo with a 3G iPhone. Because iPhones embed geodata into photos that users upload to Flickr or Picasa, iPhone shots can be automatically placed on a map. At home I searched the Flickr map, and score—a shot from today. I clicked through to the user's photostream and determined it was the woman I had seen earlier. After adjusting the settings so that only her shots appeared on the map, I saw a cluster of images in one location. Clicking on them revealed photos of an apartment interior—a bedroom, a kitchen, a filthy living room. Now I know where she lives.
the full story
Now, this guy seems like he's no threat but imagine if he were, how much he just gained from picking you out of the crowd at a park.
The U.S. Army writes a full report for their members but it is very useful for all of us.
source file
If there is anything you take from this, it should be awareness of the technology that is out there and how to use it SAFELY.
