Mercurial > cgi-bin > hgweb.cgi > JpegWasher
diff Readme.html @ 16:304492a6b72b
Add a Readme file.
| author | David Barts <n5jrn@me.com> |
|---|---|
| date | Sat, 11 Apr 2020 11:24:25 -0700 |
| parents | |
| children | 0528030187e9 |
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--- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 +++ b/Readme.html Sat Apr 11 11:24:25 2020 -0700 @@ -0,0 +1,93 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> + <title>Introducing ExifWasher</title> + <style> +html { font-family: "TeX Gyre Schola", serif; } +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 { font-family: "Avenir Next", sans-serif; } +pre, code, kbd, samp { font-family: "Menlo", monospace; font-size: 85%; } + </style> + </head> + <body> + <h1>Indroducing ExifWasher</h1> + <h2>Executive Summary</h2> + <p>This program makes it easy to remove metadata from the digital images you + create.</p> + <h2>What is “Metadata” and Why Would I Want to Remove It?</h2> + <p>You may not realize it, but image files can (and typically do!) contain + more than just image data. These data can include your camera make, model, + and serial number; the location where you took the photo; the software you + used to edit the photo (and what editing steps you did); etc.</p> + <p>One of the most powerful uses of photography is to graphically document + things that the wealthy and powerful might wish to remain concealed. The + evils of slavery, child labor, poverty, war, and imperialism have all been + documented photographically, and such photographs have often proved + instrumental in helping to motivate social change.</p> + <p>Because of the metadata they contain, digital photographs contain data + which has been used to determine who took them, and in some cases to exact + retribution against their photographers. ExifWasher makes it easy to see + and remove the privacy-compromising metadata in your images.</p> + <p>Even if your images are not of such a sensitive nature, that extra data + takes up space. It is not uncommon for a 100 KiB image to contain 20 KiB + of metadata in it; if that image is on a web page, that makes for 20 KiB + of wasted network usage each time the image is sent.</p> + <h2>What Makes ExifWasher Different from Other Metadata Editors?</h2> + <p>Simply put, it is designed to <em>safely</em> remove <em>unimportant</em> + metadata.</p> + <p>There are plenty of general-purpose image metadata editors out there, and + these tools can be employed to remove unimportant metadata. The trouble + is, they are not user-friendly: it is up to you, the user, to know which + metadata are unimportant, and to delete it.</p> + <p>There can be literally <em>hundreds</em> of bits of metadata in an + image, and <em>not all are safe to remove</em>. In particular, if you + accidentally remove color-management metadata, computers that don’t handle + images without color-management metadata properly (I’m talking about <em>you</em>, + Apple Computer, Inc.) will display colors that often look all “washed-out” + or otherwise incorrect.</p> + <p>Likewise, there are already plenty of simple-to-use, user-friendly tools + out there for cleaning the metadata out of image files, but they + inevitably delete <em>all</em> metadata, resulting in files that often + display improperly. Also of concern, many of these “tools” are actually + online services. If you’re concerned about your privacy, why would you + trust the images you’re processing to some unknown third party, who may be + linked somehow to those who might want to retaliate against you.</p> + <p>I wrote this program because I wanted there to be a quick, easy way to + scrub images before they even left a photographer’s computer and made + their way onto the Internet, and for that program to leave vital metadata + alone, so that the resulting images continue to display properly.</p> + <h2>ExifWasher Washes More than Just Exif Metadata</h2> + <p>Exif is the most common type of metadata, but image files commonly + contain compromising XMP or IPTC data, particularly if they have been + edited with a tool like Photoshop. ExifWasher will seamlessly deal with + these kinds of metadata, too. It tries to do as thorough a job as possible + of scrubbing possibly compromising metadata from your images.</p> + <h2>Using ExifWasher</h2> + <p>Just double-click on the ExifWasher icon and a main window should open + up. Either choose the File… Wash from the menu bar, or just drag image + files onto the main ExifWasher image.</p> + <p>When ExifWasher opens an image, it displays all the metadata it finds. + That metadata will be run through an internal whitelist, and any data + whose “key” is not found on the whitelist will be automatically selected + for deletion.</p> + <p>If you disagree with ExifWasher’s decisions, you can check or uncheck the + boxes next to the metadata in question. When you are satisfied with the + choice of metadata to be scrubbed, click “Wash” and all offending metadata + will be removed. A dialog will pop up showing the metadata remaining in + the new, washed file.</p> + <h2>Output Files</h2> + <p>ExifWasher never modifies an existing image file. Instead, it creates a + new file of the same type but with “_washed” appended to its name. For + example, processing <code>foo.jpg</code> will create <code>foo_washed.jpg</code>. + By default, the new file will be created in the same directory as the file + being washed.</p> + <h2>ExifWasher is Configurable</h2> + <p>Both the whitelist and the destination directory for the washed files are + user-configurable in the Preferences menu.</p> + <h3>Configuring the Whitelist</h3> + <p>There are two kinds of whitelist entries: those that match an entire + metadata key, and those that match a key prefix. The latter end in an + asterisk. The whitelist is case-sensitive; i.e. the entry <code>exif.image.colormap</code> + <em>will not</em> match the <code>Exif.Image.ColorMap</code> key.</p> + </body> +</html>