privacyguides.org/docs/data-redaction.md
2024-07-15 00:06:38 -05:00

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Remove PII with Metadata Scrubbers and Data Redaction Tools - Privacy Guides Data and Metadata Redaction material/tag-remove Use these tools to remove metadata like GPS location and other identifying information from photos and files you share. data-redaction.webp

When sharing files, be sure to remove associated metadata. Image files commonly include Exif data. Photos sometimes even include GPS coordinates in the file metadata.

Desktop

MAT2

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MAT2 is free software, which allows the metadata to be removed from image, audio, torrent, and document file types. It provides both a command line tool and a graphical user interface via an extension for Dolphin, the default file manager of KDE.

On Linux, a third-party graphical tool Metadata Cleaner powered by MAT2 exists and is available on Flathub.

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Mobile

ExifEraser (Android)

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ExifEraser is a modern, permissionless image metadata erasing application for Android.

It currently supports JPEG, PNG and WebP files.

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The metadata that is erased depends on the image's file type:

  • JPEG: ICC Profile, Exif, Photoshop Image Resources and XMP/ExtendedXMP metadata will be erased if it exists.
  • PNG: ICC Profile, Exif and XMP metadata will be erased if it exists.
  • WebP: ICC Profile, Exif and XMP metadata will be erased if it exists.

After processing the images, ExifEraser provides you with a full report about what exactly was removed from each image.

The app offers multiple ways to erase metadata from images. Namely:

  • You can share an image from another application with ExifEraser.
  • Through the app itself, you can select a single image, multiple images at once, or even an entire directory.
  • It features a "Camera" option, which uses your operating system's camera app to take a photo, and then it removes the metadata from it.
  • It allows you to drag photos from another app into ExifEraser when they are both open in split-screen mode.
  • Lastly, it allows you to paste an image from your clipboard.

Metapho (iOS)

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Metapho is a simple and clean viewer for photo metadata such as date, file name, size, camera model, shutter speed, and location.

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PrivacyBlur

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PrivacyBlur is a free app which can blur sensitive portions of pictures before sharing them online.

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Warning

You should never use blur to redact text in images. If you want to redact text in an image, draw a box over the text. For this, we suggest apps like Pocket Paint.

Command-line

ExifTool

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ExifTool is the original perl library and command-line application for reading, writing, and editing meta information (Exif, IPTC, XMP, and more) in a wide variety of file formats (JPEG, TIFF, PNG, PDF, RAW, and more).

It's often a component of other Exif removal applications and is in most Linux distribution repositories.

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Deleting data from a directory of files

exiftool -all= *.file_extension

Criteria

Please note we are not affiliated with any of the projects we recommend. In addition to our standard criteria, we have developed a clear set of requirements to allow us to provide objective recommendations. We suggest you familiarize yourself with this list before choosing to use a project, and conduct your own research to ensure it's the right choice for you.

  • Apps developed for open-source operating systems must be open source.
  • Apps must be free and should not include ads or other limitations.