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Do computer files contain identifyable data?
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2017-08-27 at 8:22 AM UTC
Originally posted by Ajax I would keep the end-user in mind. Your response sounded a bit technical for a question posed by a layperson.
Fair enough. It seemed like some people were arguing that files categorically contained identifying info which I deny is the case. It's hard to make a compelling case for that without digging into the only thing which applies to files in general: that they exist in the context of a filesystem and filesystems are inherently technical. I guess the tl;dr is "no, popular modern filesystems do not store identifiable information about the machine they were authored on" but without talking about what info is actually stored you'd just have to take my work for it which isn't particularly convincing. -
2017-08-27 at 10:07 AM UTC
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2017-08-27 at 2:11 PM UTC
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2017-08-27 at 2:30 PM UTC
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2017-08-27 at 2:38 PM UTC
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2017-08-27 at 4:43 PM UTC
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2017-08-27 at 5 PM UTC
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2017-08-27 at 5:18 PM UTC
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2017-08-27 at 6:32 PM UTC
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2017-08-27 at 8:27 PM UTC
Originally posted by -SpectraL .NET executables are the only Windows executable files that contain metadata.
wrong again speccy boy, by default executables compiled with GCC will contain similar metadata.
Not that it matters since the question was about identifiable data, which metadata is not in general -
2017-08-27 at 9:01 PM UTC
Originally posted by Lanny Fair enough. It seemed like some people were arguing that files categorically contained identifying info which I deny is the case.
but you excluded the files that matters the most, which are images.
and i remember seeing img hosts displaying the name of directory the img was uploaded from. -
2017-08-27 at 9:07 PM UTCTrue, EXIF data definitely can be identifiable. But that's a property of the file format, the file's contents, not it's simple stats as an image. Like if someone asks "do text files contain identifying information?" typically you'd say no, but if a given file happens to contain your name, address, and SSN well obviously it is information that identifies you.
Re: image hosts, the browser will expose the name of a file on the filesystem to a site you're uploading it to, not the path. It's up to the host to preserve or discard that. Imgur for example will discard that info as well as automatically emptying the EXIF data during upload. -
2017-08-27 at 10:10 PM UTC
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2017-08-27 at 10:12 PM UTC
Originally posted by Lanny True, EXIF data definitely can be identifiable. But that's a property of the file format, the file's contents, not it's simple stats as an image. Like if someone asks "do text files contain identifying information?" typically you'd say no, but if a given file happens to contain your name, address, and SSN well obviously it is information that identifies you.
your rite but i think in the context of what op was asking that would meant things other than the files main content that are identifiable.Re: image hosts, the browser will expose the name of a file on the filesystem to a site you're uploading it to, not the path. It's up to the host to preserve or discard that. Imgur for example will discard that info as well as automatically emptying the EXIF data during upload.
slideshare for example does it like this :
https://image.slidesharecdn.com/cdocumentsandsettingsgalindj1desktopcomexguiadelimportador-100219095122-phpapp01/95/cdocuments-and-settingsgalindj1desktopcomexguia-del-importador-13-728.jpg
as you can clearly see its from :
c/documentsandsettings/galindj1/desktop/comex/guiadelimportador etc etc. -
2017-08-27 at 11:14 PM UTC
Originally posted by benny vader your rite but i think in the context of what op was asking that would meant things other than the files main content that are identifiable.
slideshare for example does it like this :
https://image.slidesharecdn.com/cdocumentsandsettingsgalindj1desktopcomexguiadelimportador-100219095122-phpapp01/95/cdocuments-and-settingsgalindj1desktopcomexguia-del-importador-13-728.jpg
as you can clearly see its from :
c/documentsandsettings/galindj1/desktop/comex/guiadelimportador etc etc.
1st Problem. Windows.
2nd Problem. Slideshare.
3rd Problem. Not using tools to get rid of EXIF EVEN IF YOU POST TO IMGUR JUST IN CASE!!! -
2017-08-27 at 11:21 PM UTC
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2017-08-27 at 11:23 PM UTC
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2017-08-27 at 11:24 PM UTC
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2017-08-28 at 12:04 AM UTC
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2017-08-28 at 1:51 AM UTC
