Effect on Exif Meta...
 
Notifications
Clear all

Effect on Exif Metadata Due to Texting a Photograph?

5 Posts
4 Users
0 Likes
2,466 Views
UnallocatedClusters
(@unallocatedclusters)
Posts: 577
Honorable Member
Topic starter
 

Esteemed Colleagues

I am working on a case in which the opponent has photographs that do not contain any Exif metadata. We need to determine the actual date the photographs were taken.

Opposing counsel has not yet provided the make/model of the phone that took the photographs and has stated that the original phone is no longer available.

Opposing counsel is claiming that the fact that his client attached the photographs in question to text messages in order to send the photographs to him has resulted in the scrubbing, or elimination, of the photographs' Exif metadata.

Opposing counsel's specific claim is that "due to bandwidth limitations, photographs will be shrunk in size when attached to text messages, thus resulting in the elimination of Exif metadata."

Normally, my best practice would be to test out this exact scenario on the same type of phone used by the opponent. However, the opponent has not (perhaps cannot) provide the make nor model of the original phone.

Has anyone run in to the issue of "attaching photographs to text messages resulting in scrubbed Exif metadata"?

Any thoughts or guidance would be much appreciated.

 
Posted : 24/02/2015 8:36 pm
Igor_Michailov
(@igor_michailov)
Posts: 529
Honorable Member
 

Some chinese mobile phones make photos without EXIF.

 
Posted : 24/02/2015 10:40 pm
(@twjolson)
Posts: 417
Honorable Member
 

That has been my experience as a user across two android phones (and receiving pictures from who knows how many different phones). Sending a photo via text shrinks it down in size, and the EXIF information is lost.

 
Posted : 24/02/2015 10:42 pm
UnallocatedClusters
(@unallocatedclusters)
Posts: 577
Honorable Member
Topic starter
 

I tested this process (attaching a photo known to contain Exif metadata to a text message subsequently sent to my Gmail account) on my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and confirmed that Exif metadata was scrubbed as a result.

So, it appears that the Exif data can only be recovered from one of four places now

1) The original phone
2) A mobile backup of the original phone on a workstation
3) A cloud backup of the original phone
4) An email with the photo(s) attached sent from the original phone

Thanks for your quick feedback!

 
Posted : 25/02/2015 12:29 am
(@badgerau)
Posts: 96
Trusted Member
 

I would think you need to clarify/qualify what is meant by "texting", as this can potentially make a difference.

Was the message sent as an MMS through the Telco's infrastructure or was the message sent via iMessage (or equivalent ) bypassing the Telco's infrastructure? Keep in mind that pictures could only be sent as MultiMedia Messages (MMS) through the Telco infrastructure. There is the potential to recover metadata from the message itself, which could potentially confirm the Mobile Operator, make & model, time etc

Furthermore if the message was sent via iMessage or similar then there could potentially be a backup in the cloud account, but as stated it is most likely that the metadata is stripped out. I can confirm tis is the case with Apple's iMessage.

I have found that the best scenario for recovering metadata, from photos taken on smartphones, is when the photos are emailed from the phone. Using this feature allows for the largest possible file to be sent.

 
Posted : 26/02/2015 4:52 am
Share: