Sunday, 10 March 2013

You Flash Memory Card Could Be Your Downfall

By James Somerset


As time goes by we are becoming more conscious of assessing matters of our personal privacy with regard to on-line websites such as twitter and facebook. In today's world we should turn our minds towards various other modern products and how these might impact our reputation and feelings.

Imagine if your camera was to reveal the most intimate details of your love life despite your sure knowledge that you had deleted the private photographs and videos that you had have taken? You could have heard the story of the guy who sold his camera in a backyard sale only to have previously erased 'bedroom' images exposed and displayed to his community.

Facebook has personal privacy settings. We could modify them and limit, to some degree, who can see our photographs and personal information. But have you ever considered your digital camera? Modern cameras are more than just image recording gadgets. Some can record sound and video along with still images. Lots of modern cameras can record location info through the use of Global Positioning Satellites.

Exactly what lots of people have no idea about is that the removable memory cards that fit inside cameras do not delete the photos you've taken when you press the 'Delete' button (or however it's labeled on your camera).

When you push the button that you think is deleting your picture, what actually takes place is that it's marked as being unwanted. It's never shown to you again on the camera screen however it stays on the memory card for an indefinite period of time - simply asking to be 'un-deleted' by any passing teenager with the right cost-free software.

Most of the time this is fine. Few individuals take photographs that could affect their jobs or their lives. But there's a trend amongst teenagers and couples to spice up their sex lives by making their own very explicit pictures and videos. If these pictures continue to be exclusive, within a happy relationship, it's difficult to see any problem. However consider what happens if the images become public property or are found by friends, relatives or bosses?

Looking after our digital privacy is something we need to become more wise about in our electronically co-joined world. Are you confident that you can get rid of images and videos from a camera memory card?

It's easy to recover photographs from a memory device, as this on-line video proves:

Using Free Software to Erase Images from a Camera Memory Card


It's potentially frightening and extends past anything you might get up to in the bed room. Digital data is everywhere and the method of un-deleting shown in the video applies equally to company secrets, patient information, confidential papers and reports and messages from loved ones. The ubiquitousness of flash memory chips in modern gadgets suggests that having a personal life may be something we've lost forever.

If your work requires you to handle any sort of confidential information, you might think about how you should protect it just as you would protect 'sensitive' photographs of you and your partner. Digital data is here to stay and we have to learn how to control it.




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