Hey guys. I have been on this website for a long time, and I want to stop being a lurker and start posting. Unfortunately, I am pretty hesitant to do so because... well, I'm posting sexual pictures on the internet that anyone can see. I'm not saying that this community is the type that would do so, but you never know who may come on (it is the internet, after all).

So, my question is: Will posting pictures and videos on this website be of any threat to my security and privacy? What can I do to protect my privacy

I would suggest that you make yourself unrecognizable. Crop off, or obscure your face, at least. Given the genre, you could just composite a pie tin over your face.

When you make a post on UMD, you can make it private to members of UMD, but that's about like making it private to only people who ride the subway. Anyone can get on, and there are plenty of bad actors everywhere.

As someone who has been publishing images and video of myself in mud and bondage for 20 years, I don't think it's as bad as many people imagine. That is, as long as you're not planning a career in politics or as a school teacher, etc.

"threat to my security and privacy"

Privacy - yes. There is a chance that someone will recognise you. What they they do is up to them.

Security - Depends on who recognises you and what they do about it.

Personally I don't post recognisable pictures of myself but only because it could affect my counselling, if a client saw them then I couldn't work with them at best, or it could be spread around and ruin my career at worst.

There is a threat but it's A. very slim and B. worst case scenario I have to re-brand, re-market and rebuild! But this is for me. For others they may fear ridicule, stalking etc so I suggest if you fear the consequences, regardless of the chances of it happening, then for your own piece of mind don't post recognisable pictures.

My avatar is me, no one will recognise me but the person who's hands they are could potentially make my life difficult but I trust them.

Good luck and welcome.

I don't think there is a more simplistic and perfect way to answer the OP's question than this. If you are concerned about privacy then the less information you provide the "safer" i.e. more anonymous you are.

If you say went up on stage in the middle of a performance and slapped the performer in the face with a large fish (legal ramifications aside) you'd probably be noticed, remembered, talked about, and have your picture plastered everywhere.

By comparison if you were just another flabbergasted person in the room witnessing said buffeting, chances are much less likely of you drawing attention to yourself.

You guys suggested that I hide or block my face from the camera. Will that make a difference whether people recognize me or not?

Also, what are some good UMD accounts that hide their face?

Also, something about removing "EXIF" or locational data from your pictures before posting them. I don't know much about that one. I don't personally much care if I get found. If I do and someone calls me out on it, I'll be like "HEY what you doin on UMD!?"

Well, I'm a semi-successful producer and I don't have my face in my avatar, though that's less to do with privacy and more about having an image that fits the "stately home" backstory to my sites and download store. Though I could well be the chap on the horse in the shot.

Having an image with your face visible gives rise to two main risks:
1. Someone you know who is also a user of this site may recognise you. How much of a risk that is depends on whether people you know socially or at work are aware of your tastes.
2. If you use an image of yourself that is also used elsewhere on the Internet, like the same avatar you have on Facebook or LinkedIn or another major site, then feasibly someone can run a "reverse image search" on the picture and hence find all your other social media presences. The way to avoid that is just to ensure you only ever use specifically-taken-for-the-purpose shots for your avatar here (and avoid having the same background as any general-use images of you).

No.2 is probably the bigger risk for most people.

Plus as Potatoman-J said, scrub all EXIF data from any images before uploading them here. Images from mobile phone cameras in particular are liable to have all kinds of personal and location identification information in them.

Don't let this person fool you, they have a room with Badger Wallpaper!!!!!

Or do they...see what I did there?

Just to reiterate the point made above, when EXIF data is enabled (as it is by default when taking photos on an IPhone), it will embed your GPS data into the .jpgs you post online, and then can be used to track you down to the precise geographic coordinates. Meaning that if you post with EXIF data enabled, you are giving away, not just your face, but specific, documented proof of both your address and online activities.

Just so folks know, if you have a windows computer, before posting any photo, right click on the file, click properties and there's a tab that appears that allows locational data to be removed, it's simple to do, without additional software. You can also do a batch in one go by preselecting them. I suspect it is probably the same on Apple too but haven't checked. Don't forget to apply and save after removal. Obviously it is only an issue if you are posting smartphone photos, if you have a digital camera or camcorder - unless it has GPS built - it's not an issue.

Patrick