I’ve been digging into image metadata recently and was surprised how often GPS location data is still embedded in photos people share publicly.
Even when users are aware of EXIF data in general, GPS coordinates seem to be treated as “probably not there” or “harmless”, especially when sharing images outside social networks (forums, blogs, marketplaces).
I’m curious how people here think about this in practice:
– Do you assume photos you share still contain location data?
– Have you ever seen real-world privacy issues caused specifically by GPS metadata?
– Do you rely on platforms stripping metadata, or do you clean images yourself before sharing?
Interested in hearing perspectives from people who’ve worked with journalism, security, OSINT, or just learned this the hard way.
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