Article about live logging

[+42at42]

Article link.

 

If you log your finds live.

 

If you and everyone in your household is caching. I could only see this if you are on vacation.

 

If you are targeted by a criminal who knows which house you live in, your user name and is actively watching your finds.

 

If you fit the above guidelines and are paranoid, then be afraid...very afraid.

Edited February 18, 2010 by 42at42

[+BCSasquatch]

I saw that on the news last night. Pretty crazy stuff. People need to be way more aware of how the Internet can be exploited, and this is a wake up call for people who can hear it.

[Mr.Yuck]

Article link.

 

If you log your finds live.

 

If you and everyone in your household is caching. I could only see this if you are on vacation.

 

If you are targeted by a criminal who knows which house you live in, your user name and is actively watching your finds.

 

If you fit the above guidelines and are paranoid, then be afraid...very afraid.

 

OK, I know what this is. It's not Geocaching at all. It's a goofy little game, it's an app for internet and GPS enabled smartphones that reports things like "I'm at Wal-Mart" or, "I'm at Taco Bell", and it gives the street address for where ever the location is. You can post these updates automatically to Twitter. Two people (both Geocachers) that I follow on Twitter do this. If you visit a location more than any other player, you get to be Mayor of Wal-Mart or Taco Bell or whatever. Sounds like you earn points and badges and stuff too (that part I didn't know about).

 

Pretty much that link is someone blogging about something he doesn't understand very well. Anyways, the game is at www.foursquare.com

Edited February 18, 2010 by TheWhiteUrkel

[CoyoteRed]

Oh, the joy of unintended consequences.

 

Just think, got a disgruntled roommate or ex? You come home to it completely trashed, stuff missing, and your weed in plain view. They knew you weren't home so no worry of getting caught and had plenty of time to do it. No longer do they need to know your work schedule or that you eat with your mother every Wednesday night.

 

Beauty.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I saw that on the news last night. Pretty crazy stuff. People need to be way more aware of how the Internet can be exploited, and this is a wake up call for people who can hear it.

 

It's not especially new either. There was an article in Wired about 6 months ago about geotagging and the author described a scenario where he was able to determine where a woman lived just from the photos she took usng her camera.

 

I was at a conference last October listening to a session on developing native mobile applications and mobile web sites which used the GeoLocation api. I asked a question about the fact that when I bring up an application on my iPhone sometimes there will be dialog box which asks me if I want to allow the application to use my location information. My question to the speaker was, "How is that dialog enforced? What's to stop some nefarious person from neglecting to ask if the application may use location information, and then go ahead and use it. The answer in the case of iPhone apps is that they're vetted before becoming available through the app store and *hopefully* and that if an app is going to use location information must present that dialog box. But, in the case of native apps which can be downloaded to other mobile devices or mobile web sites which use the HTML5 spec and the geolocation API who enforces a notification to the end user that it is going to collect lat/long coordinates and do whatever it wants with that information? The speakers answer was, "we have no privacy on the web. Get over it". It wasn't a popular answer.

 

It's unfortunate that the article even mentions geocaching as most geocachers do not use a device which is even capable of making the location of it's user known to anyone else except the person using it. I would be that a significant percentage of the general population think a GPS is something that is primarily used to track a person or moving object. Unless a device has transmit capabilities (like a mobile phone) all it can do is receive satellite signals and do the math to present a set of lat/long coordinates.

 

The article isn't about geocaching, and it isn't about GPS receivers. It's about social media games where users willingly share their location.

[+Gamaliel]

Before you think about posting your location online, have a look at http://pleaserobme.com/.

[jholly]

Don't need any technology more sophisticated than an old dial telephone. Call up the newspaper to put a vacation hold on your paper and your friendly carrier gives the information to his criminal friends. Been going on ever since Bell said "Mr. Watson, Come here, I need you." Of course with twitter and the like you don't need to befriend a paper carrier.

[+Flo.]

I have twitter. I don't post on it. Use it for the coupon of the day of a local pizza joint, tweets from a local weatherman, breaking news and the word of the day. I use to post on it. I never said my location though. I also have a facebook account. Never post on it either. Only use it to farm and it irritates me I have to have the facebook account to farm. I have several friends that post where they are at the moment. I never thought of robbing them, just "why do you think I care where you are at this very moment" kind of thoughts.

[Mr.Yuck]

Before you think about posting your location online, have a look at http://pleaserobme.com/.

 

That's exactly the website that the blog linked to in 42at42's original post is referring to. Pleaserobme.com is exposing the dangers of the game Foursquare for smartphones. Except the blogger in question is totally freaking clueless, and thinks that Foursquare is Geocaching.