Should Steemit remove the EXIF data of image uploads?
Hey Steemit,
As some of you probably already know, photos can contain metadata (or EXIF) such as date/time, camera model, and even GPS data of where the image was taken. This data can be useful but can also be a privacy hazard. When you share an image on social media, you may not be aware that you also share meta information which could lead to someone finding out where you live. This is why most networks, e.g. Facebook or Imgur, will strip any EXIF information of uploaded photos. But when I checked the image upload function of Steemit, I was surprised to see that EXIF data is being preserved. This is not a big deal if you're aware, but as previously stated many users aren't even aware they're sharing this information. I see this as a more critical issue with (many) Steemit users holding some amount of crypto-currency that makes them more of a target for stalkers and hackers. So I wonder, shouldn't the Steemit image server strip the EXIF data, at least by default? If ya'll agree, we should probably be raising an Issue on Steemit's github page!
See also: [P.S.A] EXIF Info attached to photo uploads and how i know where your cat lives! - post made before Steemit had its own image uploader
Stripping EXIF data would be useful as an optional feature. Although some people post personal images to Steemit, the main point of Steemit is not friendly conversation so posting images taken at one's home might not be the best thing in the first place.
An option may be fine, tho imo it would need to be set to 'privacy' by default or we're back to the problem of unsuspecting users not even knowing what they share.
If you do want EXIFs in your uploads (not sure why) you could always just use an external image host, like your own blog site. And since we have this possibility, we might not necessarily need the 'preserve' option on Steemit.
I'm not against setting it on by default as long as people are notified that they need to switch it off if they want to preserve anything important in the EXIF data.
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