OSINT game with a fake Ivanka Trump
Lessons were learned when I invited you all to geolocate me yet again!
The other day, I attended a good friend’s promotion ceremony at the House Triangle, which is right by the Capitol building here in DC. At one point, I got on the lawn and had my son take the following picture, which I then asked people to geolocate:
For those of you who were not following the responses, I was geolocated in roughly ten minutes. That, of course, was not the main point of the exercise — although it’s a good reminder of how quickly your location can be discovered by someone who knows how to go about it. And no, you don’t need a specialized education. A familiarity with Google Maps & common open source research tactics will do.
One of the things I wanted to illustrate with this photo is that geolocation is not a guessing game. This is why, when setting up the shot, I asked my son to make sure certain elements were visible — such as the columns on the right. The columns look generic enough as to inspire a guess! And sure enough, there were some!
Of course, I’m not knocking anyone for taking a guess! If you’re not a geolocation expert, that’s part of the fun!
What I wanted to do, however, was to draw a sharp contrast between that and the people who decided to be precise:
It’s true that the columns were generic. The street lamps, on the other hand, were very specific! People who zeroed in on those found me much, much quicker.
There is a bigger point that I want to make about this game — when we’re posting pictures on the internet, we often think that as long as we don’t include a very obvious landmark, such as the Capitol (which, I remind you, is very close to where I’m standing in the photo), we aren’t going to be geolocated. Not true! Abandon those illusions if you’re hiding your location, or simply don’t want it to be widely known.
Another thing I wanted to point out was the trick of using filters. I was using a slightly desaturated filter, which is why some people got the location just right, but weren’t absolutely sure of the season:
That’s fine, of course, but filters are NEVER a foolproof way of avoiding being chronolocated (i.e., someone discovering WHEN you were standing in that spot). Look closely at the picture and you will notice a filter being used (this particular one was generated via VSCO).
With enough hard work, you could discover exactly what dress I am wearing. No one did that, but I might ask you all next time, and see how you do! Distinctive prints and patterns can easily be narrowed down (in order to make it more fun, I’m going to avoid mentioning the designer here, it might tip you off to more of my wardrobe staples).
“Big deal,” you’re thinking. “Who cares about a dress?” Well, except our clothes can give a lot away about us too. Our tastes, our preferences, our interests — the items we wear can directly correspond to them. This is also something to keep in mind when you post about your life online. Some people will say that socioeconomic bracket can also be made apparent, but I always take that with a grain of salt (you don’t need to spend a lot of money to have an interesting and/or distinctive wardrobe).
As the last bit, one dude accidentally mistook that photo for a photo of Ivanka Trump! He apologized profusely when he realized his error, and it’s all good now. But it also made me think about an important aspect of online research — people can and do jump to conclusions, especially when it comes to sensitive subjects. Ivanka is viscerally disliked by many people and even a passing resemblance — my hat and the shadow on my face did a good job of obscuring my features somewhat, leading to the confusion — can result in a hilariously awkward situation.
When it comes to online safety, remember that people can and do jump to conclusions online! Sometimes with disastrous results. In my case, the results were merely funny, of course.
I look forward to playing more geolocation and chronolocation games with you! So if you’re reading this, please consider participating next time! And stay safe and savvy out there.