Blog
Plain-English notes on metadata, privacy and AI content provenance — what's hidden in your files, and what you can do about it.
Does Instagram Keep C2PA Credentials? What Survives an Upload to 6 Platforms
Instagram reads Content Credentials and then strips them. TikTok attaches its own. Here's what survived our uploads to six major platforms in mid-2026.
Read articleAI Content Provenance in Production: C2PA, Audit Trails, and the Compliance Deadline Engineers Are Ignoring
When the EU AI Act's transparency rules take effect on August 2, 2026, anything generating synthetic content for EU users must carry machine-readable provenance. Here's what C2PA actually proves, where it breaks, and what a production-grade provenance stack really requires.
Read articleA Journalist's Pre-Publication File Sanitization Checklist
Source protection starts with the files you publish. A step-by-step sanitization checklist for images, video, PDFs and AI-drafted text.
Read articleHow AI Image Watermarking Actually Works: C2PA, SynthID and Pixel-Level Marks
C2PA manifests, Google's SynthID and visible labels mark AI images in completely different ways. Here's where each lives and what actually removes it.
Read articleWhy 'Lossless' Matters: Most Online Metadata Removers Quietly Re-Encode Your Photos
Many web-based metadata removers decode and re-save your photo, degrading pixels and stripping color profiles. Why surgical, lossless removal is the better way.
Read articleScreenshots vs. Photos: Which One Leaks More?
Screenshots carry no camera EXIF or GPS, but they aren't automatically safe — and photos of screens leak worst of all. What each format actually reveals.
Read articleMetadata Horror Stories: When Hidden Data Got People Caught
Four real cases where hidden metadata got people caught — John McAfee's EXIF slip, the BTK killer's Word file, geotagged helicopters, and Strava's heatmap.
Read articleWhat Your Phone's Videos Record About You (MP4 Metadata, Explained)
Your phone stamps GPS coordinates, creation timestamps and its own make and model into every video you shoot. Here's where MP4 metadata lives and how to remove it.
Read articleYour Resume's PDF Metadata Is Talking Behind Your Back
The Author field says your friend's name. The Producer says 'Word for Mac'. The creation date says 2023. What your resume's PDF metadata tells recruiters.
Read articleInvisible Characters in AI Text: How Zero-Width Watermarks Work
Zero-width spaces, word joiners, Unicode tag characters: how invisible Unicode hides tracking data inside AI-generated text, and how to find and remove it.
Read articleWhat Are Content Credentials? A Plain-English Guide to C2PA
Content Credentials attach a signed history to your photos: what tool made them, what you edited, sometimes who you are. Here's how C2PA works in plain English.
Read articleHow to Check a Photo's GPS Location Before You Post It
Your photos likely carry coordinates accurate to a few meters. Here's how to check them on every OS in under a minute — and what to do when you find some.
Read articleEXIF Data, Explained Field by Field
EXIF is a 30-year-old standard that quietly files a report inside every photo you take. Here's the field-by-field tour: what each one stores and what it gives away.
Read articleDoes WhatsApp Strip Photo Metadata? What 9 Popular Apps Actually Do
Some messaging apps strip your photo's metadata, some keep it, and a few do both depending on which button you tap. Here's the full scorecard for 9 apps.
Read articleHow to Remove Metadata from a Photo on iPhone, Android, Windows and Mac
Every OS ships a way to remove photo metadata, and every one of them leaves something behind. Here are the real menu paths and the honest fine print.
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