Some time back, around a year ago, I released a relatively simple command line utility - PureJPEG - to filter EXIF data (along with application data blocks, thumbnails, and so on) out of JPEGs. The utility took me an evening to throw together (it's a pretty straightforward C++ app), and was actually just a research branch of some image search algorithms I was working on - a project that I need to return to at some point.

Since I released that tool I've had literally 10s of thousands of downloads...

Nonetheless, it really filled a need: An enormous number of people were unaware of the types of EXIF data in their images, or the impact that it had on their data size (many images on the net are over 50% EXIF and thumbnail data, in cases where it is just extraneous waste). Since I released that tool I've had literally 10s of thousands of downloads (interesting note: a largely disproportionate number of the downloads are from people located in Russia - I have to guess that it piqued the interest of a Connector [terminology courtesy of the Tipping Point - great book] in Russia, and they spread it to their network. I think I'll get a Russian translation of the page put up). It is enormously satisfying as a software developer when I see something I've done has helped someone, however marginally.

In any case, on the topic of EXIF - I recently upgraded to a Canon Digital Rebel XT. I absolutely love this camera, but for whatever reason it sticks the camera serial number in the EXIF. Perhaps the serial number of a camera isn't really top secret, but nonetheless this seems like a completely needless piece of info to be sitting in every image I put online or elsewhere. It just seems like a piece of info that could be used in insurance fraud, retail deception, or some other nefarious activity. Perhaps it isn't secret, but it really isn't the sort of thing you shout from the rooftops (similar to how people and organizations obscure license plate numbers, yet they're really ridiculously un-private).

A much more profound privacy concern could come up when cameras finally start making use of the geographical coordinate points sitting largely unused in EXIF currently. These data points, storing items like latitude, longitude, and altitude, will make for absolutely brilliant geocoded photo databases once cameras start incorporating a GPS. For instance many cell phones are starting to incorporate a GPS to accommodate e911 requirements, and of course many cell phones already have onboard cameras, so it's inevitable that the technologies will collide. Imagine having the ability to search in a tool like Picasa for photos taken at a particular house, or in a particular park, without having the hassle of manually adding keywords categorizing each photo. Imagine a shared service like Flickr with brilliant locational searches.

Even better if cameras also stored the attitude and direction each photo was taken - Imagine seeing a cityscape with view cones emanating out, with colour coded focus zones (which can be determined by a variety of other EXIF data points). With a clean GPS signal, you could tell which photos were taken of someone sitting on the steps of city hall, out of the CN Tower looking towards Toronto Island, or towards the leaning tower of Pisa looking West at dusk during late August, all without relying upon haphazardly scatter-shotted user categorizing and captioning.

When this technology finally hits the mainstream - the merging of quality digital cameras and GPSs (likely through our phones) - the impact is going to be absolutely profound, and it will completely change how we archive and access our images.

[SEE FOLLOWUP - http://www.yafla.com/dforbes/2005/10/06.html#a100, and http://www.yafla.com/dforbes/2005/11/29.html#a201]