We’ve talked a lot about location-based services on Spark, from Nora’s interview with Steven Johnson on the geoweb, to our coverage of the emerging augmented reality trend. And while a future that includes location-aware computers is exciting and full of possibility, it’s also a little bit scary.
There can be a dark side to online location-based services, most notably in the privacy arena. That’s the focus of a new website: Please Rob Me. It explains:
The danger is publicly telling people where you are. This is because it leaves one place you’re definitely not… home. So here we are; on one end we’re leaving lights on when we’re going on a holiday, and on the other we’re telling everybody on the internet we’re not home.
To be clear, the creators of Please Rob Me aren’t against location based services like Foursquare. Rather, they want to raise awareness of the privacy issues surrounding these technologies.
Today, Nora talked to Boy van Amstel, one of the creators of Please Rob Me. A shorter version of this interview will air on an upcoming episode of Spark (update: it aired on Spark 104), but you can hear the full, uncut interview below, or download the MP3. [runs 11:20]
Play audio:
Update: Foursquare has weighed in on the pros and cons of location sharing. (thx Judy)
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This is just another situation where people need to be aware of their surroundings. I'd be far more worried about living in a typical bedroom suburb (IE: not mixed-use with residential/business/etc, or mixed ages of residents/etc) than publishing my location to a public website.
Anyone who knows my wife and my profession have always had a pretty good idea of times of the day/week when our house isn't occupied by either of us. These things aren't considered private information.
Is this a new threat, or just a new awareness by people who were unaware of how much information is already easily available about them from other sources? The title of the website feels more like provoking fear rather than raising awareness, even though awareness seemed to have been their aim.