Toward metadata removal to preserve privacy of social media users

Abstract

Social media site users are constantly uploading images onto social media platforms to document their lives for others. These users may be unaware, though, that the pictures they upload have metadata embedded within them. The metadata includes a wide variety of different types of information about the pictures and the camera used to take them, including Global Positioning System location data. After the picture is uploaded, data is collected by data mining companies that are allowed access to the data by social media sites. What these companies do with this data is uncertain and raises privacy concerns for users. This research provides insight into how much information is stored within pictures and how this may affect users’ privacy. We have also supplied a programming example in the Python programming language that performs the removal of all the metadata, or just the Global Positioning System location data, from images before they are uploaded. Instead of completely stripping away the metadata, our solution allows the users to create identical copies of their images that are free of metadata. These images can now be uploaded free of information the user may not be comfortable sharing with data mining companies or other social media users.