Police warn photos of kids with geo-tagging being used by paedophiles

4-19-2012 Australia:

POLICE have warned parents not to use mobiles to upload photos of kids to social media with location information because paedophiles are using it.

South Australia Police has emailed a warning to children's rights advocates that predators are window-shopping on the internet, looking for photographs with so-called "geo-tagging" information to find out where children live, go to school, go to playgrounds or shop with their parents.

Detective Inspector Peter Dunstone, acting officer-in-charge, Sexual Crime Investigation Branch, said geo-tagging was an innocent way for parents to add information to photographs - but was dangerous.

"This warning highlights the dangers of posting images with geo-tagging, particular with children, who share their images in seemingly innocent circumstances," he said.

Geo-tagging provides the exact location at which a photograph was taken which, when combined with information such as "taken at his favourite playground", can be used to stalk children.

University of South Australia child protection expert Professor Freda Briggs forwarded the emailed warning to The Advertiser when contacted by the officers advising of what they called the "scary" trend, which began in the United States.

Professor Briggs said technology, often unknown to the user, matched the images and names of children with their locations, often in real time.

"Predators are always one jump ahead and it is very difficult to get safety messages over to young people and the community in general," Professor Briggs said.

"Research with teenagers has shown that they ignore verbal messages and take internet risks, thinking that they are smarter than their parents and teachers and can outsmart sex offenders."

A police spokesman said anyone wanting more information about the dangers of geo-tagging should consult the Australian Communications and Media Authority website. The website advises those who have security concerns to disable photo or face-recognition functons, remove social networking tags on photos and turn on privacy settings on social networking sites.

Meanwhile, new "iSpy" technology is set to give parents a window into children's Facebook activity, with instant alerts when they stray into danger. Telstra safety expert Darren Kane said the Cloud-based technology, available from today, is a way for children to prove they can be trusted. ..Source.. by Miles Kemp