[HN Gopher] ExifLooter - finds geolocation info on all URLs and ...
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       ExifLooter - finds geolocation info on all URLs and directories
        
       Author : socketpuppets
       Score  : 56 points
       Date   : 2022-07-30 13:39 UTC (9 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
        
       | 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
       | Could be useful for revenge porn dumps and AnonIB, newchan, etc.
       | Lots of leaked nude photos still contain Lat Lon data.
        
         | socketpuppets wrote:
         | How it is useful ? If victim takes the photo of
         | herself/himself. This tool get the victim's location or
         | metadata.
        
           | popcalc wrote:
           | He forgot this wasn't /g/
        
       | nibbleshifter wrote:
       | Capture all images from your browsing using mitmproxy and auto
       | pass to this could be fun. Have it log the source url, etc?
        
         | socketpuppets wrote:
         | There is an extension on Burp Suite do exactly your idea.
         | 
         | https://portswigger.net/bappstore/3996aa01e0474b1a990db586a7...
        
       | tppiotrowski wrote:
       | 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?
        
         | Kye wrote:
         | Failing to strip exif is traditionally one of the first
         | mistakes most new sites with photo sharing make. Browsers
         | wouldn't strip it since it is useful information that's used by
         | many sites. Sites that keep it on purpose just have the good
         | sense to make revealing it optional or selective.
        
         | socketpuppets wrote:
         | Browser's does not strip the exif data but websites should
         | remove the exif data. According to Bugcrowd's Vulnerability
         | Rating Taxonomy, severity of the vulnerability P3-P4 (medium-
         | low) because the vulnerability leak GPS data of anybody.
        
         | snoopy_telex wrote:
         | I believe the website gets it all.
        
         | freedomben wrote:
         | 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 wrote:
           | 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 wrote:
             | Or don't upload pictures to Facebook.
        
           | aendruk wrote:
           | 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 wrote:
             | 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 wrote:
       | Looking through the code, this is mostly wrapper around exiftool.
        
         | socketpuppets wrote:
         | I added remove metadata from images on exifLooter
         | https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter
        
         | socketpuppets wrote:
         | Yes. Added on READ.me
         | 
         | Thanks to fahrradflucht for contribution
        
       | socketpuppets wrote:
       | I added remove metadata from images on exifLooter
       | https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter
        
       | liberia wrote:
       | 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/
        
         | willcipriano wrote:
         | > 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 wrote:
           | 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 wrote:
             | 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.
        
         | cronix wrote:
         | > 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
         | 
         | [2] WebODM quick 3D demo:
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3pMJR-L0Gk
        
         | socketpuppets wrote:
         | I added remove metadata from images on exifLooter
         | 
         | https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter
        
         | socketpuppets wrote:
         | Thank you for your idea. I can add new parameter like "exiftool
         | --image image.jpeg --remove" to remove all metadata from the
         | image.
        
           | b5n wrote:
           | 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 wrote:
             | Why `exiftool -all= image.jpeg` is not enough ? or I think
             | overwrite the metadata with the empty ones will be okay
        
               | b5n wrote:
               | 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 wrote:
               | I added remove metadata from images on exifLooter
               | https://github.com/aydinnyunus/exifLooter
        
             | socketpuppets wrote:
             | Oh I type wrong. I mean adding remove parameter on my CLI
             | tool like `exifLooter --remove --image=image.jpeg`
        
       | mistrial9 wrote:
       | 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" ..
        
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       (page generated 2022-07-30 23:01 UTC)