Please Rob Me

Posted on Feb 18, 2010

pleaserobme.com

Please Rob Me was created by a Dutch developer to make a point about the ubiquity of private information being distributed through services like Twitter.

A Dutch developer has created a website called Please Rob Me that takes Twitter data and compiles a list of people who say they are away from home and at a restaurant or movie—with geocoded information and the likelihood of an empty house being broadcast throughout the Internet.

The site, of course, was created to make a point, not encourage robbery, as we struggle to make sense of what new technologies mean for our notions of privacy and safety. —JCL

The BBC:

A website called PleaseRobMe claims to reveal the location of empty homes based on what people post online.

The Dutch developers told BBC News the site was designed to prove a point about the dangers of sharing precise location information on the internet.

The site scrutinises players of online game Foursquare, which is based on a person’s location in the real world.

PleaseRobMe extracts information from players who have chosen to post their whereabouts automatically onto Twitter.

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