Note: This article contains no spoilers about the new Harry Potter book. Go ahead: keep reading...

An enthusiastic person recently took photos of every page of the new Harry Potter book and made the files available through the torrent networks. The books publisher (Scholastic) decided to have a look at the files and noticed the digital camera's EXIF metadata was still embedded in the images.

For the uninitiated, every photo you take with your digital camera has information embedded in it. Details such as resolution, dot pitch, iso settings, and even the camera model and serial number. This makes the possibility of finding the offender somewhat realistic, assuming the camera (in this case a Canon Rebel) was registered with Canon when it was purchased. If it goes to court, Scholastic would have every intention of getting Canon to hand over such information.

There are problems of course. The camera might not have been registered. And even if it was it may have been sold or bought by a different person. Or they may have borrowed someone else's camera, or the camera may be stolen for the purpose.

In any event it illustrates how easy it is for the technically inept to leave a digital breadcrumb trail behind them. If this sort of thing concerns you, there are plenty of ways to before you go and post that next drunken photo of you and your mates on MySpace.