Please Rob Me Dot Com… Brilliant!
PleaseRobMe.com posts when you’re not at home
Sometimes you just have to laugh. And today I am laughing in a smug way, I admit.
Because I saw on the front page of my local paper a tech news story (tech? on the front page?) and a Google search showed that all the ‘tech sites’ had similar stories. It seems someone has created a website called pleaserobme.com (currently offline.. too many hits today, probably).
This website is a mashup of users’ content from Twitter, the extremely popular ‘microblogging’ service, and FourSquare, a site in which users share their location via “geolocation”. PleaseRobMe reformats the information that users make public on FourSquare to read like an alert to a would-be burglar, stating that a user “left home and checked in 12 minutes ago,” followed by the user’s update: “I’m at San Francisco International Airport.”
(FourSquare is not the only ‘location-sharing’ application people are using.)
I am laughing because I have been saying right from the starting gate that “social networks” are fraught with peril for overly chatty users who broadcast too much information. With geolocation enabled, you’re basically saying when nobody’s home, or helping a stalker track you — great idea! (sarcasm)
Further proof to me that Twitter is for twits.. but, hey, “it’s kewel!”
(Great, Paul. You just angered 10 million+ people.. Smart!)
To read the full story, click here. Also, a good read on this here.
Related: How to Avoid Facebook and Twitter Disasters. Take Some Practical Steps To Control What Others See About You.
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• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
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Tech - for Everyone 
Joke of the day is Pleaserobme. Everyone is writing about them.
A shift in our society has occurred the past few years. We have gone from fearing the security of the internet to anything/everything goes, your nobody unless everything about you is transparent. There is little to no digital hygiene that is of any concern with many of the nets younger users. This is all they have known since High School, so it must be safe, secure, and no problem. I don’t know where this all nets out for privacy and society. Caution is still necessary, storage is unlimited and cheap and everything is connected.
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nexttolastblog,
Have to agree.
http://nexttolastblog.wordpress.com/
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TechPaul,
Everyday I have friends trying to get me to do Facebook, Twitter, etc… I avoid ’em like the plague.
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Rick,
I’m with you.
Now, I happen to have a few very close relations (younger) who think Facebook is just about the greatest thing that ever happened.. They enjoy the games, and looking up old friends and acquaintances.
But the only “Twitter people” I know are folks who are buying into the “Twitter gives you publicity” theory. They say I should post these articles on Twitter.. and get “followers”…
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