What's on Your Photo Storage Website?

[MineralMan]

A lot of Internet users, including many here on DU, store images on one of the many image storage sites around the web. They make it easy to hot-link images for posting here and there on websites, discussion forums, and elsewhere. I love those image storage sites, and use them myself a lot.

There's a side to them, though, that people should think about. A lot of people aren't aware that when you hot-link an image, a simple right click on the image lets you copy the URL of the image. Put that in your browser's URL field, and you can see the image at the actual storage site.

If that image storage site is not private, a little backspacing lets anyone see everything in your image storage. In some cases, it lets anyone get to the root directory of your individual storage space, and enables them to see all of your albums and folders. The result can be a serious intrusion on your privacy. So what's on your photo storage website is important for you to know. Is there stuff in there you'd rather wasn't public? Photos of your home, your family, identification information, or even embarrassing stuff?

If so, it can turn out to be a disaster, as it did for the young woman who stupidly dressed as a Boston Marathon victim for Halloween and then shared a photo of her "costume" on the Internet. She made a big mistake in her choice of costumes, but most of us make mistakes from time to time. Her "costume" went viral, and the inevitable happened. Almost instantly, someone used the technique I described above to get into her image store, where there were also nude photos of herself. So, the issue got compounded when those photos, as well, showed up on the Internet. They went viral, as well, and are now hosted all over the Internet. I'm sure she had no idea that might happen. Now, anyone who looks up her name on Google Images will see those photos, and she'll never be able to get rid of those photos.

If you use image storage websites, go look at the privacy status of your storage. If it's anything other than private, anything you store there will be visible to anyone who understands how those storage sites work. So, have a look at your images and make whatever decision about privacy you think is appropriate. It's important. Truly it is.

[SoCalDem]

1. I pay for Smugmug, and protect some by creating private galleries that use passwords

Of course I lead a boring life, so my personal photos are boring..
http://socaldem.smugmug.com/
I am very willing to share & host pics for my buddies too

The funniest thing is that once Woo Tang Clan's website used some of my pics

and some carpet cleaning company in Florida used a poem I wrote, in their newsletter (got it from DU).. I was flattered

you never know who is watching..

[MineralMan]

2. You're aware of the privacy settings and use them

appropriately. You're rare, I think. Good job!

[SoCalDem]

3. I once emailed a stranger about her little girls

I looked up tutu on google, and there were her little girls, resplendent in their cute little tutus.. Of course, there were also pics of them in the tub and playing in the pool..and on the site was also an INVITATION to a BBQ at their house..complete with MAP !!!!

I emailed her and reminded her that EVERYONE now knew just where to find those girls..

She emailed me back, thanking me for the reminder and removed those.. Hopefully I was the ONLY one who took note of them..

Many people think that only their friends & family look at their "stuff"..

[MineralMan]

6. Good for you. I've done that, too, in a few cases.

People just don't think about privacy and security, sometimes. They should, all the time.

[William769]

4. I use my website for my Image storage.

But since I have complete control over it, I guarantee you that photos that are private, stay private.

But good advice for those who use public one's.

[MineralMan]

7. You're smart!

[William769]

10. Well some here would beg to differ with that comment.

[MineralMan]

13. There's always that, of course...

[oldhippie]

5. I use different photo storage sites for different purposes ....

... the one I use here I only use here. It is pretty tight. Other sites (mostly photobucket right now) for other purposes. I sometimes hang out on gun sites. Some of my pics on those sites would make heads explode here.

But you're right, and I am now going to check my security settings again. Thanks for the reminder.

[MineralMan]

8. Those sites sometimes change stuff. I remember the times that

Facebook has changed privacy settings. They notify people, but people just ignore stuff like that. They shouldn't ignore such things. So, it's a good idea to check your settings once in a while.

[The Straight Story]

9. I use photobucket, and it is rather funny....

I try not to hotlink to images at news sites and such so I right click and upload them to photobucket. I end up with a hodge podge of images that, taken alone without the stories they link to, makes one wonder what the hell I was thinking

There was a troll on here some time back who was running around telling people I was racist or some such thing based on my photobucket photos. Simply ignored them (they were banned not long after). Obviously they were ignorant of the dangers of hot linking (and how people can change the photo but keep the name at any time, etc). I still do that off and on, but generally only when I have used the source before and trust them enough.

[MineralMan]

11. Once in a while, a site will use a simple technique to thwart hot-linking.

The result can be goatse. That should be avoided at all costs, for sure.

[MineralMan]

12. One Other Cautionary Warning

Once in a while someone starts one of those "Post a photo of yourself" threads on DU. That's cool, and we all like to see who we're writing to, but that can backfire, as well.

There is a forum-type website out there that focuses on hating DU and DUers. It has a private forum, where some of its members collect personal information on DUers, and those members are fairly good at digging up personal information. Personal photos on DU are one of the sources they use most often to find out personal information, as well as using those photos on the public areas of that forum. Personally, I don't really care, but DUers should be aware that those personal photos may being used in a negative way elsewhere on the Internet.

Always being aware of privacy issues is your best protection. Think before you link.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

14. Interesting - thanks for that info.

I use Photobucket, but there isn't anything there that might incriminate me - there are no nude photos of me in any form, anywhere in the universe, and the universe should be very grateful for that. I do try to take advantage of whatever privacy settings are available at various sites - I don't have any photos of me on Facebook and I don't post personal information there or elsewhere (I'm constantly amazed at the very personal stuff people post for all the world to see). I prefer to maintain a low Internet profile.

[MineralMan]

15. A low profile is always a good idea, I think.

Unless you want to have a very visible, high profile, it's a good idea to keep your Internet presence in mind all the time.

There are some ugly people out there, and they'll dig around if they can for almost any reason.

[hobbit709]

16. I use Photobucket for images I post on DU. That's all that's on there.

Any images I don't want to put out for general viewing I don't put online.

[MineralMan]

19. That's a good, safe way to do it.

[SDjack]

17. Be sure to strip metadata from files that you put on the Web

If you put metadata (names, address, phone numbers, email addr, URLs, photo descriptions) in your photoeditor’s IPTC file, all of that is easily available to anyone to read with most photoeditors.

If you added your name to your camera’s EXIF, it’s there in the photo’s metadata for anyone to dig out.

Before posting or storing online photos, documents, spreadsheets, audio files, it’s in your interest to strip out all the metadata.

To find metadata removal tools, search these terms: strip metadata image file software

I strip metadata from all photos before storing on Web or sending by email.

[MineralMan]

18. Good suggestions, but maybe overkill for most

people. Really, it's much more important to use appropriate privacy settings at places you post photos. Unless you're extremely concerned about privacy, that should handle most people's needs. If you're really concerned or worried, it's probably best to avoid posting stuff at all on the Internet.

[pipi_k]

20. testing

I sometimes post images that link directly to my Facebook albums.

I'm posting a link to a photo in one of my albums (after logging out of FB) to see if anyone not on my friends list can see the rest of them





Edit: Well, apparently, my other photos and albums are safe, although I'd like confirmation if you wouldn't mind trying to access my photos through this one.

[lumberjack_jeff]

21. I'm not much of a hacker, but that image didn't lead me to anything else.

Cool butterfly, though.

[pipi_k]

22. Thanks for trying...

when I link to my images on FB, I choose "view image" first, then "copy image location", so I was pretty sure nothing else would be visible, but then I'm not a hacker either.

Maybe there are some real hackers here at DU who can confirm, though...



PS...thanks for liking my butterfly! I caught him as he was sneaking a drink from the hummingbird feeder one day.

[MineralMan]

23. Nah. Couldn't get anywhere else from your photo.

You're good.