New Site Extracts and Posts Geotags From Twitter Pics

Posted 08/23/2010 at 2:08pm | by Ryan Whitwam

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Smartphones are really amazing devices. They do so many things that many people can't really keep track of all of them. Such is the case with the geotagging of images many smartphones do by default. A new site called "I Can Stalk U" is parsing Twitter in search of geotagged photos. The information then shows up in the stream on the site.

Now that phones have both GPS and cell network location services, it's easy to add geographical information to the EXIF data every time a picture is snapped. Most of the time, users are expected to turn this off if they do not want their location stored. I Can Stalk U is the brainchild of security researchers Ben Jackson and Larry Pesce. They explain that the site is aimed at raising awareness regarding what people are really telling the world at large about their movements.

This site is not unlike the now defunct Please Rob Me, which consisted of an aggregation of everyone that Tweeted they were not at home. In the case of I Can Stalk U however, it's not about the blatant statements people are making, but rather about data they might not know exists. Have you ever posted an image someplace only to realize you'd posted your location?