Stolen Camera Finder Uses Metadata To Locate Your Property

Devin Coldewey

Devin Coldewey is a Seattle-based writer and photographer. He has written for the TechCrunch network since 2007. Some posts he’d like you to read: The Dangers of Externalizing Knowledge | Generation i | Surveillant Society | Choose Two | Frame Wars | The User’s Manifesto | Our Great Sin His personal website is coldewey.cc. → Learn More

Friday, April 29th, 2011


This is a cool idea, though it requires a little luck to work. The gist is that you upload a picture to the site, it examines the EXIF data and looks for the serial number, then checks the web for photos with an identical SN. If your camera is lost or stolen, there’s a chance it could pick up pictures taken by the new owner, if they haven’t scrubbed the metadata.

Give it a shot. It didn’t work for me, but the photo I used has been through several editing apps.

[via BoingBoing]