By Victoria Shirley
MONROE, La. (KNOE 8 News)- Smart phones make picture sharing easier than ever, but those uploaded photos could be giving out more information than you may think.
With just a touch of a button, taking a picture with a smart phone is easy. But uploading those photos could mean sharing more information than you may think.
A chip inside your phone could turn your photo into much more than just an image. With just the click of a mouse, hackers can pinpoint where the photo was snapped. Getting that exact location could lead to robberies, stalking, even kidnapping.
Any trouble can be avoided simply by switching location services off. But Melissa Marsh of the phone doctors says many people are unaware that their photos share potentially that much information.
"I think a lot of people are iphone illiterate when they first get their phones. They don't really know the settings they can go into and take things off like that." said Melissa Marsh of the iPhone doctors.
Newer iPhone models have made location service options more accessible. And iPhone technician Alex Kern says protecting yourself only takes a few seconds.
"Go to settings, they would press location services and it will give you a switch to turn it on or off." said Alex Kern, iPhone technician.
"I suggest to people, if they don't want to know where you are, they can know, so just take it off." said Melissa Marsh.
Newer digital cameras may also contain geotagging technology. Buyers should check their manuals to see what information their pictures contain.
Making sure shared photos aren't available to the general public is another way to keep yourself out of harms way.
Click here for more ways to turn off location finding options.
