Friends,
We would like to start our first official post by talking about metadata in photos.
What is metadata?
Simply speaking, metadata is data about data. Everything we do on a computer/online leaves some sort of trace. These traces can range from date and time of a file to something like which application was used to create it.
The same metadata can be found in images and photos. Say, for example, one takes a photo with their phone and emails it to their friend abroad two years later. This friend becomes curious and wonders how old the photo is and where it was taken*. With one right-click, not only can they see that information, they can also see what device was used to take the photo and its settings. Sure, they seem harmless but here at Privacy Freakz we don’t want to take the chance. And that is why we would like to recommend you two beautiful pieces of software that remove all of these metadata with a simple drag and drop gesture.
Image MetaData Stripper
Image MetaData Stripper is an Open-Source application that allows you to remove the metadata with a simple drag and drop. It is available for both Windows and Mac OS; however, the latter is now outdated and does not work on newer Macs. We will introduce another application for Macs below. Still, you can, technically use the code to compile your own application.
Instructions:
- Download the application
- There is no need to install the application, therefore: open
- Drag and drop files
- Enjoy a metadata free image!
*location information may not necessarily be on but in this example we assume it is.
ImageOptim
Open-Source and free, like Image MetaData Stripper, ImageOptim is for Mac users who are unable to use the former. It is also as simple as drag and drop. Simply download it from here.