Metadata and Your Privacy by FanCentro
Privacy is the most important thing to consider when you make your living online, particularly in the adult industry. Adult performers run the risk of encountering overzealous fans every single day, and that can lead to bigger threats, such as bullying and even stalking.
Because this is such a unique challenge to face every day, you would think that technology would make it easier, not harder, to protect yourself, but the truth is, you may be broadcasting a great deal more than you think. The first thing you must understand is what type of information you’re sharing and exactly who can see it.
What is Metadata?
Have you ever taken a photo at an event or a venue only to have that very location suggested to you when you upload it to social media... even weeks later? Now for some, metadata is an innocent enough thing--it’s information that pertains to other information. This picture was shot in Los Angeles, California, or Galveston, Texas, or Lisbon, Portugal--great for organizing your photo albums, right? Well, not always.
Information like locations, file names, or the device used to take the photo are all examples of metadata. The more complicated part of understanding metadata is knowing when metadata is harmful to you and ensuring that personal details of your life are not available to the general public.
Each time you shoot a photo with your phone, you’re attaching metadata to that photo. That information includes:
Date and time the photo was taken
The file name of the photo
Your camera settings
Geolocation
Yup…location. Let’s assume that, for example, you take that photo and upload it to a Dropbox that your fans have permission to access…the metadata attached to that photograph is also transferred. That means it is very easy for fans to identify and locate exactly where that photo was taken. When you think about it, that kind of information is extremely risky to have out and about. Now the bigger question is, what can be done to protect yourself?
How Can You Protect Yourself?
There are ways to protect yourself! There’s no need to retire from the internet to protect your privacy, there are options for keeping what you want private, private, while still sharing your content.
One of the first things you should do to protect your content is watermarking it and forbidding any screenshots or recordings. Between watermarking content and saying no to screenshots you have the first line of defense against people who want to steal or repost your content.
Now that your content is protected, it’s time to think about yourself. There are ways to limit, or even eliminate, harmful metadata altogether. You can utilize apps like Pixelgarde and Scrambled Exif that will strip your content of metadata so it will be a blank slate when you post it. There are also several sites that can help--just upload your pics, the site will remove the metadata, and then it will be safe to share.
Whenever you’re dealing with sharing content online, there are risks, but there are also steps you can take to ensure both your safety and your privacy. An ounce of prevention is worth its weight in gold in today’s tech-savvy world, so do your due diligence and you’ll breathe a lot easier every time you click “Post”.