Creepy or not? Tracking location from social media picture.

[felixthecat]

Asking for a friend

He had a regular SP, being pretty close for a long time (she knows his real-life info).
She posts some pictures on her working social media.

Once she posted a picture which seemed to reveal her home location (which he wouldn't know otherwise). There's a landmark that some locals can recognize, and also a view of neighbour buildings. When another building is close, the angles can show very precisely the height and relative position of the camera. So he sent her a private message "nice picture, but revealing your location too much".

There was no immediate response. He was quite worried about those predators that track escorts personal data and blackmail them. He chose to check himself if the location was trackable, which can be a 5 min exercise in Google Maps when you see the direction from the landmark and "drive away" from it. Alas, it was quite obvious which building and apartment the picture was taken from.

He was booking over text and also said "that was serious, ppl can track your address which is ...". She replied on booking but no mention of the picture. When he saw the picture was still posted, he asked "are you going to remove it, there are some bad ppl out there".

The last text from her was about considering not seeing him, as he's checking her out too closely and telling her what to do (which she thought was an issue before). She took down the picture but wouldn't reply to him since.

So now he's wondering, was it creepy to even notice this or use Google Maps? (But how else to show it's serious.) Wasn't it time sensitive to deal with? Was it too pushy to remind about it?

And ladies, stay safe.

 

[ogreray]

Asking for a friend

He had a regular SP, being pretty close for a long time (she knows his real-life info).
She posts some pictures on her working social media.

Once she posted a picture which seemed to reveal her home location (which he wouldn't know otherwise). There's a landmark that some locals can recognize, and also a view of neighbour buildings. When another building is close, the angles can show very precisely the height and relative position of the camera. So he sent her a private message "nice picture, but revealing your location too much".

There was no immediate response. He was quite worried about those predators that track escorts personal data and blackmail them. He chose to check himself if the location was trackable, which can be a 5 min exercise in Google Maps when you see the direction from the landmark and "drive away" from it. Alas, it was quite obvious which building and apartment the picture was taken from.

He was booking over text and also said "that was serious, ppl can track your address which is ...". She replied on booking but no mention of the picture. When he saw the picture was still posted, he asked "are you going to remove it, there are some bad ppl out there".

The last text from her was about considering not seeing him, as he's checking her out too closely and telling her what to do (which she thought was an issue before). She took down the picture but wouldn't reply to him since.

So now he's wondering, was it creepy to even notice this or use Google Maps? (But how else to show it's serious.) Wasn't it time sensitive to deal with? Was it too pushy to remind about it?

And ladies, stay safe.

I think it was the right thing to do. If you're concerned for someone's safety, let them know. Can't help it if your message gets misinterpreted, it's still the right action to take.

Even if she doesn't know it, it might still save her from some less than friendly people.

 

[MichaelP]

To put it bluntly, people overshare without understanding the consequences of their actions. It was a good thing your friend told the SP about the issue; however, I won't have pushed it. He did what he thought was correct but, by repeating himself, I believe the SP crept out based on his action rather than the actions third party (who may or may not be as technology savvy). As for myself, back when I was living in DT Vancouver, I found a picture in an CL ad which showed a building which looked extremely familiar: It was almost the same view as my apartment, which meant it was somebody in the same building. It is possible I might have ran into her in the elevator!

That said, to people who publish pictures in the Internet, there is something called EXIF and, inside it, contains some metadata. Depending on the camera settings, it can save details such as the camera itself, the settings which the picture was taken with, the time stamp and, if geotagging was enabled, the actual coordinates where the picture was taken. If you want to check what details it contains, this link is quite useful: http://regex.info/exif.cgi Fortunately, a lot of editing applications can strip those details so, when uploaded, it won't be publicly available. However, said applications won't strip away what is in the actual picture.

 

[vancity_cowboy]

firstly, often non-technical people get confused by technical matters. and when they get confused they can easily get angry - or at least defensive

secondly, text messaging is possibly the worst medium available through which to communicate messages that require delicate handling, with the accompanying body language that helps sooth and convince the listener of the importance of the message. i know two people that are currently broken up with ex-girlfriends over misinterpretations of text messages

i think your friend might have been better off to deliver the warning in person, either when he visited for a session, or possibly arranged a quick coffee meeting with her and told her then

that way she could have seen his earnest concern and the non-threatening nature of his warning. by text, she had no way of judging those factors and reacted the wrong way

 

[meaghanmcleodDELETED]

Personally, I would want someone to tell me. Even if I don't understand, let me know. This technology is confusing. It was so much easier with my flip phone. Some things we don't understand, and I love those that let us know when something isn't right or dangerous.

God bless you, for bringing this to the front. Xo

 

[Boobfetish]

Personally, I would want someone to tell me. Even if I don't understand, let me know. This technology is confusing. It was so much easier with my flip phone. Some things we don't understand, and I love those that let us know when something isn't right or dangerous.

God bless you, for bringing this to the front. Xo

Ha, interesting thread. I tend to be a bit paranoid over security issues, and in turn perhaps overprotective and I try to point stuff like this out to people when I see it. Glad to see at least one person appreciates help like that LOL.

I can see where the OP pestering the lady about it might have started to feel a bit overdone though. Generally I try to give people a heads up but then leave it with them after that unless they ask for help.

 

[westcoast555]

Asking for a friend

He had a regular SP, being pretty close for a long time (she knows his real-life info).
She posts some pictures on her working social media.

Once she posted a picture which seemed to reveal her home location (which he wouldn't know otherwise). There's a landmark that some locals can recognize, and also a view of neighbour buildings. When another building is close, the angles can show very precisely the height and relative position of the camera. So he sent her a private message "nice picture, but revealing your location too much".

There was no immediate response. He was quite worried about those predators that track escorts personal data and blackmail them. He chose to check himself if the location was trackable, which can be a 5 min exercise in Google Maps when you see the direction from the landmark and "drive away" from it. Alas, it was quite obvious which building and apartment the picture was taken from.

He was booking over text and also said "that was serious, ppl can track your address which is ...". She replied on booking but no mention of the picture. When he saw the picture was still posted, he asked "are you going to remove it, there are some bad ppl out there".

The last text from her was about considering not seeing him, as he's checking her out too closely and telling her what to do (which she thought was an issue before). She took down the picture but wouldn't reply to him since.

So now he's wondering, was it creepy to even notice this or use Google Maps? (But how else to show it's serious.) Wasn't it time sensitive to deal with? Was it too pushy to remind about it?

And ladies, stay safe.

It's not your job to babysit her... and it comes across as creepy. I think any person of even mid to low intelligence knows they are revealing their location in their pics.

It's not our job to monitor and manage how these women choose to present themselves. It's being paternalistic, overbearing, intrusive, and generally creepy. You're being exactly the kind of problem you claim to be warning her about by behaving this way.

Sorry, my two cents for what it's worth.

 

[VancityDivas]

Good intentions Bad execution.

And in my opinion knowing a high rise with so many people living there or even being at a friends place and snapping a picture she liked then posting doesn't seem to be too concerning ... after all stalkers develop in civilian life too. Being that escorting is legal if anything LE is there to help!

Seems the OP jumped to believing in the worst in people rather than having faith in this girls screening capabilities or better yet a body shot can't always be matched with a face in public reasoning.

There's always risks involved but it's our onus to do as much as possible to mitigate them be it screening/blacklisting/working with gfs/having security safeguards etc.

Hopefully she doesn't meet any crazies out there!

PS I have to agree with the above post that he's being exactly the kinda person he's trying to save her from.. ESPECIALLY considering while booking over text he told her what he believed was her home address. That would freak anybody out in this industry after all he IS her client!

 

[felixthecat]

Thanks everybody for the feedback.

I don't get this part though:

I think any person of even mid to low intelligence knows they are revealing their location in their pics.

I don't see how this defines intelligence. From other replies, even people with high intelligence may miss the difference between a picture that reveals the exact location and one that's safe (showing an approximate area at most).
No escort would post their exact home address publicly, so it's reasonable to assume she wouldn't want to reveal it indirectly if she realized it's trackable.

I do see your other points and appreciate your opinion.

 

[wilde]

I agree that your friend's intentions are good but his actions can be misinterpreted as being stalkerish. It's too bad but sometimes people have funny reactions to these types of situation.

 

[badbadboy]

Sometimes we all have the best intentions to help people either in this business or consumers of the services in this business.

One can be acknowledged as helpful or branded as some interfering guy on the internet with suspect intentions.

Unless it is someone I know personally, I have stopped being helpful because of the latter reason because it will become a four page thread in the Lounge ound:

Maybe let your friend know that some people do not wish to be helped no matter how solid the intentions were with this SP.

 

[westcoast555]

Thanks everybody for the feedback.

I don't get this part though:



I don't see how this defines intelligence. From other replies, even people with high intelligence may miss the difference between a picture that reveals the exact location and one that's safe (showing an approximate area at most).
No escort would post their exact home address publicly, so it's reasonable to assume she wouldn't want to reveal it indirectly if she realized it's trackable.

I do see your other points and appreciate your opinion.

I just think that if a girl takes a pic on her balcony or looking out the window she'd have to be pretty dumb to not realize that the background gives away her approximate location.

 

[sdw]

I just think that if a girl takes a pic on her balcony or looking out the window she'd have to be pretty dumb to not realize that the background gives away her approximate location.

I don't think most people realize that a smartphone violates your privacy everyday in everyway. Even the old flip phones attached location information to pictures. But a modern smartphone is no longer taking it's location from cell tower triangulation, a modern smartphone has a GPS chip that is only limited by the quality of the smartphone's antenna. http://gpsworld.com/accuracy-in-the-palm-of-your-hand/

GNSS chipsets are now ubiquitous in smartphones and tablets. Yet the underlying positioning accuracy of these consumer-grade GNSS receivers has stagnated over the past decade. The latest clock, orbit, and atmospheric models have improved ranging accuracy to a meter or so, leaving receiver-dependent multipath and front-end-noise-induced variations as the dominant sources of error in current consumer devices. Under good multipath conditions, 2-to-3-meter-accurate positioning is typical; under adverse multipath, accuracy degrades to 10 meters or worse.

There was a thread on a Ford car that finked out it's owner when she left a hit and run accident. The police knew when the air bags activated (pretty difficult to claim she didn't know that she had an accident) and knew exactly where she was by tracking her smartphone.

There was also a recent thread on a home invasion where all 4 of the suspects were tracked with their smartphones.

If a person wants to have a digital picture that doesn't leak all kinds of information, they should use one of the older digital cameras. Then the picture will only have the make and model of the camera along with focus information attached to the picture. The new digital cameras with all of the bells and whistles do have a GPS chip.

But then so does your brand new smart TV, your fairly new laptop, your fairly new refrigerator, etc. The past few years school departments have been known to track students with their laptops - including watching what the camera sees and listening to what the microphone picks up. http://phys.org/news/2010-02-experts-school-track-laptops-intrusively.html

School officials in Pennsylvania who admit remotely activating student webcams to locate missing laptops could have used far less intrusive methods such as GPS tracking devices, technology and privacy experts say.
The Lower Merion School District instead finds itself defending a potential class-action lawsuit after a student complained of being photographed inside his home and accused of selling drugs.

The FBI is investigating the school district for possible wiretap and computer-use violations.

"The issues raised by these allegations are wide-ranging and involve the meeting of the new world of cyberspace with that of physical space. Our focus will only be on whether anyone committed any crimes," U.S. Attorney Michael Levy said Monday, taking the unusual step of confirming the FBI and Justice Department investigation.

While pledging to cooperate with any criminal probe, lawyers for the district also appeared in court for the first time Monday in the civil case, negotiating an agreement aimed at preserving computer evidence. The district agreed not to destroy any evidence that might be found on its servers or on the nearly 2,300 laptops issued to students at its two high schools.

The person monitoring the student's laptops got caught because they phoned the police when the laptop seemed to witness the student buying drugs. One has to wonder how many 14 year old girls provided entertainment to the monitor as they dressed or undressed in front of their laptop.