Page 2 of comments at Technology

#57 - sofiesoflam

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**sofiesoflam rolled a random image posted in comment #3682646 at Friendly **

#54 - anon id: fec5b3f2

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Last I checked Facebook strips the EXIF metadata off image files when you upload them.

So at least that's safe.

#52 - heroofkvatch

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i'll call bull----.

my step dad was in iraq for 4 years, and i skyped with him several times when the bomb sirens would go off.

never once was his base hit with mortars, despite the fact that the exact GPS cordinates of his base where on google maps.

You're telling me that they can't hit a base using the cordinates from google, but they can hack into a gov't satellite, get the cordinates of military pics out of the millions of pics in the database, and then accurately hit the helicopters with mortars?

#51 - anon id: 118e5020

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Yeah.... except what actually happened is that the insurgents camped out in the towns around all the FOBs and bases in Afghanistan SAW A ----ING GROUP OF HELICOPTERS LAND THERE!

I worked on Apaches in the military, and have been to Afghanistan twice. They know what goes on and it's not like the aircraft aren't PARKED OUT ----ING SIDE!!!

However, opsec is still important, so don't go putting up info on Facebook. It really is dangerous.

#49 - allamericandude

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Or maybe the insurgents already knew the location of the base--cuz, you know, they're at war, and that's the sort of thing you'd want to know--and they saw the giant buzzy whirley things land there and decided "Hey, those look like nice targets. We've got these here mortars. Let's blow those things up with our mortars! Because we're at war, and that's the sort of thing you do in a war."

#63 to #49 - thevsamoviessecond

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I think you may be onto something

#58 to #49 - anon id: e1e1404d

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Sounds too simple for 21st century war, isn't it all about tactics?

#61 to #58 - captnpl

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Those are some damn fine tactics compared to the old "line up in rows and walk toward the enemy until everyone dies" style of combat.

#48 - Protomix

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#47 - hadtomakeanewname

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False, Iraqi terrorist never had access to mortars

#46 - KievLeviathan

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#43 - RageGuyyourmom

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Why was no one given a briefing on how your phone can be used against you in a war zone?

#41 - larfang

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you know you can turn off the GPS locator right?

#36 - kaslin

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And that, kids, is how a safety brief is born.

#34 - anon id: 17f95cec

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This...seems kinda stupid. It could have been just a normal ----ing attack. Are you telling me that they specifically targeted this base because of the facebook thing rather than...i don't know...a random base one of them found that had some recently issued helicopters? Is it so hard to believe maybe the insurgents attacked the base because they...were going to attack it anyway?

#45 to #34 - konradkurze

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because the intelligence officers would rather point the finger at a soldier 'giving away their position' than admit they goofed and let insurgents slip past them

#33 - -----lovin

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It is true that some cameras (Iphones do) record the global position in the EXIF data, but it's extremely easy to fix.

#32 - felixjarl

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#31 - happy----time

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didn't /b/ do this to some guy and called the cops on him because he didn't post nudes of his girlfriend

#30 - thatonenerd

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You could always just put the picture on your computer, then take a screenshot of it...

#28 - rprol

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Probably true about the location settings on phone pictures. calling bull---- that insurgents in Iraq had access or capability to use said information.

#84 to #28 - sannukas

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You don't need to be an extreme 1337 hax0r to view exif data. There are free tools and websites where you can just uplaod the photo and it will show you the exif data.

#53 to #28 - octaviamanoctavia

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It's been a tactic during the last clash between Hamas and Israel, where the Hamas would send text messages to Israeli phones, to try and locate them, as well as locating soldiers/civilian targets by looking at the data pictures provide. Also some dumb ----s would report exactly where rockets hit the ground so the Hamas had a perfect view of where to aim to actually hit something.

#29 to #28 - anon id: c0c3a3da

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They are more advanced than you think. The worst mistake you can make is to assume your enemy is stupid. Their grunts may not have access to things like this, but the ones actually calling shots do.

#56 to #29 - herpaderderp

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It's not that. I'm sure they have access to the internet and whatnot, but it is highly unlikely that they could have accessed the information, given the unlikelihood of American soldiers adding them on Facebook.

#55 to #29 - thelastamerican

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The most dangerous thing in wan isn't what you know about the enemy, it isn't even what you don't know. It's what you refuse to know because you already know you're more advanced than them.

#27 - missing

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#25 - faithrider

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i'm not sure of the accuracy of the story itself, but i can confirm that this is a possible occurance. my local news actually ran a story that said this

#26 to #25 - faithrider

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but they also showed that while in camera mode if you go to settings you can turn this feature off

#24 - TheExile

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While I will admit to information on FB and Twitter can leak sensitive information (i.e., troop/cargo movements), I have to say that it wouldn't affect something like the movement of gunships/jets much at all. These machines are not only loud as hell, but hard to conceal at all. Most "insurgents" have a fairly accurate estimate of weaponry on most military bases, mostly because they watch them all the time. Plus, bases still get mortared all the time; it's nothing special. When I was last in Kandahar, it was pretty common that we would have take emergency procedures to avoid a mortar attack. It's more annoying than dangerous, since they are very inaccurate. The people firing them don't stand there and keep shooting, they set up a series of mortars randomly in a building or on a hillside, then set them on a timer and GTFO. There's a reason they are hard to neutralize; they're clever, and adapt new tactics quickly.

Also for those asking "how do they know which FB to looks at, that's stupid", you have to realize that most American Military Bases use Foreign Nationals to do all the work around base. That is, laundry, fast food, grocery store, etc. They don't bring over American Working class people, and they definitely don't make the soldiers/marines/airmen they're paying to go stand around wash clothes all day. The bad thing about this, is occasionally, a bad egg gets through, and we have someone who sees/talks to our military members on a daily basis going home and telling the opposing forces all about every detail of their day, anything said/seen/heard, no matter what. That's why OPSEC (Operations Security) is such a big deal; it really does matter, but people underestimate it's importance.