Geo-tagging: Is Your Smartphone Revealing Your Location?
By Robert Siciliano June 27, 2012 | 09:00 AMPosted in: Home, Family Location-based services utilize
geo-location information tied to your phones GPS and in some cases your
carriers connection and even WiFi
Geo-location or geo-tagging can
be used on PCs, but is primarily applicable to mobile phones. The geo-location
software usually obtains its data from your device’s Internet protocol (IP)
address or your global positioning System (GPS) longitude and latitude. Many of
today’s social networking sites are now incorporating location-based
services that allow users to broadcast their locations via smartphone.
This technology can be useful to
predators, thieves, and other criminals, since it makes it so simple to
determine where you are, and where you are not.
The BBC reports in Australia
masked men, armed with a knife and a club, struck the home of a 17-year-old
girl's mother hours after a teenager posted a photo on Facebook of a large sum
of cash. It is not clear how the robbers found the family address. The Facebook
image was at the grandmother's Sydney house.
Someone who is paying unwanted attention to you can
see your exact address each time you post a geo-tagged photo and check in.
Thieves use geo-location to determine whether
you are home or not, and then use that data to plan a burglary.
To prevent home
burglary and protect yourself from broadcasting your
location, you should:
Turn off your location services on your mobile phone
or only leave it enabled for applications like maps. Most geo-location services
are turned on by default.
Be careful on what images and information you are
sharing on social networks and when. For example, it’s best to wait until you
are home to upload those vacation photos.
Make sure you check your privacy settings on your
social networking sites that you’re sharing information on to make sure you are
only sharing information with your friends and not everyone.
Robert Siciliano personal and home security
specialist to Home Security Source
discussing ADT
Pulse on Fox News Live. Disclosures
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