Could a stranger on the Internet track your every move? Yes — certainly and easily — thanks to the photos you post online and an app named Creepy.
Switched reports that a free software package called Creepy is currently available for Windows and Linux users that would allow those folks "to pinpoint anyone's location, using geographic data embedded within shared photos."
How does the process work? It's practically child's play once someone has installed the app:
All you have to do is type in a person's Twitter or Flickr username, and hit the 'Geolocate Target' button. The app will then gather all the geographic information available online, via photos that the 'target' has shared online.
The reason app can gather this information so easily is that whenever "someone shares a photo taken with his or her smartphone, services like Flickr, Yfrog and Twitpic automatically record the location where the shot was taken, and store that geo-tag in the image's EXIF data." Creepy pulls up that data and places it onto maps.
And then there was also a website called 'I Can Stalk You' which demonstrated how geotagged photos — if combined with details gleaned from tweets — can reveal information which could easily be abused by someone with nefarious intents:
* Where you live
* Who else lives there
* Your commuting patterns
* Where you go for lunch each day
* Who you go to lunch with
* Why you and your attractive co-worker really like to visit a certain nice restaurant on a regular basis
And that's what Creepy is all about according to Yiannis Kakavas, the app's creator. It's about demonstrating what geotagged images can reveal and reminding people that they need to be aware of those details — even though they don't exactly need to live in terror because apps like Creepy or websites like 'I Can Stalk You' exist:
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