The original picture sent by wechat will really reveal its geographical location? Some lawbreakers will determine your location based on this information. Does it sound terrible? Is it true? How does wechat official respond?
Recently, according to CCTV news client, wechat will expose personal location information when sending photos by selecting 'original picture' transmission, which will still be displayed after being processed by the map repair software. When taking photos, the software calls the GPS global positioning system data in EXIF, which comes from the data of sensors and gyroscopes inside the mobile phone, and records the location time when taking photos.
In response, WeChat official public response said that when the user sent the original picture to others, the incidental information was also sent out. The so-called geographical location information disclosure has nothing to do with wechat.
The following is the original wechat statement:
We are concerned about the recent rumors on the Internet about "wechat sending the original image to disclose privacy". We explain this as follows:
Nowadays, any photo taken by a smartphone contains EXIF parameters, which can call GPS global positioning system data to record location, time and other information in the photo.
When the user sends the original image to other people, the attached information is also sent. This is true whether you use wechat, SMS, email, or other transmission tools. Strictly speaking, the so-called geographical location information disclosure has nothing to do with wechat. Some public numbers attribute it to WeChat, which is seriously misleading, causing panic to the majority of users.
In addition, the pictures sent by the user in the circle of friends have been automatically compressed by the system, not the original pictures, and no location information. Part of the account claims that 'the whole day's trace is displayed through the picture of the circle of friends', which is nothing.
We hope that the public account can carefully screen information, avoid exaggerating the facts, and bring unnecessary harm to the public and enterprises; we also remind users to pay attention to the protection of personal information, and turn off the privacy related functions such as location-based services in the "Settings" of smart phones.