Recently my daughter got her hair professionally styled for the very first time. I am biased, but she looked so cute! After leaving the salon, we stopped at a convenience store. My wife took out her phone and snapped a picture of our daughter and later posted it on Facebook. She noticed that the picture came with more than just a smile: the picture included geotag information.

Geotagging is the process whereby phones automatically add geographic location information (longitude and latitude) to pictures, unless specifically deactivated by the user. When shared online, geotagged photos can be linked to several mapping services, such as Bing Maps and Google Maps, which makes it easier to pinpoint your location.

Some people may not care if others know where they were when a picture was taken. Others may feel that it is just creepy for someone besides a friend to know this information, especially if the photo was taken at your home or child’s school. I am pretty sure people involved in child custody cases would not want their photos geotagged. Who knows, child predators may find geotagged photos interesting and useful as well. Turning off this feature on your phone is not at all difficult. Please follow the link below.

HOW TO TURN OFF GEOTAGGING ON YOUR SMARTPHONE

http://gcn.com/Articles/2012/12/10/How-to-disable-smart-phone-geotagging-feature.aspx?Page=1

John L. Jones