PleaseRobMe Highlights Dangers of Over-Sharing Online

PleaseRobMe Highlights Dangers of Over-Sharing Online

www.pcworld.com

A new Website with the tongue-in-cheek name "PleaseRobMe" seeks to highlight the potential danger of updating the world, via social networking sites, on your every move.

PleaseRobMe is really nothing more than a glorified Twitter search; it aggregates public Twitter feeds that use Foursquare, a social networking game, to announce when users have left their homes.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I guess for most us here on ATS, the dangers of posting too much information online is something we tend to be more aware of than the average citizen. However, this goes to show how easy it is just to pinpoint when people are home or not from one simple game.

How easy would it be for a government agency to make algorithms that accumulate data from a few different sources and be able to create a rather in depth profile of you.

Another eye opener to remember how scary this information age can become.

www.pcworld.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Hahaha, this could cause some legal problems if someone actually executes a robbery using this website.

It's good education though. New technologies require greater personal responsibility.


I kind of doubt it will be of much effect though. For one thing most robbers are probably going to use more than a tweet to make sure their victims aren't home. Most of the time they already know you in person, know your schedule well enough to know when you're not home, sometimes even call your house to double check that no one answers before they try to break in. There are already lots of tricks robbers can take advantage of that are probably safer for them than relying on tweets.

Pretty crazy idea though.

reply to post by SilentShadow


It is kinda funny. I thought there should be a website "Blank wants to kill me" because watching the crime shows I noticed so many friends of the victim said... poor dead person always said "Blank wanted to kill him or he didn't trust Blank" and the ever popular "she said Blank was going to kill her"

I thought it might help the police if someone turns up dead to point at their killer using the computer but many others thought it would be a tangled legal mess.

It seems to me that we (collective society) have a rather large view of what people want to know about us. With very few exceptions the social networking craze has magnified that view.

People that announce their every move via Facebook or Twitter or My Space etc. ad infinitum, seem to either have way too much time on their hands, or they are obsessed with themselves.

Self centered people are one of the root causes involved in the degredation of society in the world today. While I think it's ok to be inflective, I am concerned with being that way with total exclusion of all other concerns.

Imagine walking into a large party or social gathering and announcing, "I'm here to use the bathroom!". And, then following that with, " I used 3 squares of toiletpaper.".

When people twitter that info, they are essentially walking into the biggest party they have ever been to, and making such an annoucement. Ok, a little humor there to illustrate my point, but it makes me wonder...who cares?

Now, walk into that same party and announce that you are here to party hard, get drunk and pass out. Is your abode vulnerable in an hour or two? Are you vulnerable in the same amount of time? The bad guy doesn't care how much toilet paper you used, but he might care that your intentions are to be incapacitated.

[edit on 18-2-2010 by rotorwing]