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Friday, February 19, 2010 | Categories: Blog, Full Interviews |
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 if you download the MP3. [runs 11:20]
Update: Foursquare has weighed in on the pros and cons of location sharing. (thx Judy)
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