The Science and technology section has saved me many times when I begin to run dry for blogging ideas. Yet once again the CBC rides to the rescue.
“The website, PleaseRobMe.com, was created in just four hours and is based on publicly posted Twitter messages, according to its founders. The site pulls in Twitter feeds that feature FourSquare, an online game where people mention their current location.
Boy Van Amstel, one of the site’s Dutch developers, said he and two friends set up PleaseRobMe to illustrate just how foolish some people are with the amount of personal information they share online.”
I felt kinda silly when I asked my partner to remove my picture off of a photo sharing site because of my concerns about internet privacy. I value my privacy a great deal and being searchable just seemed like a bad idea to me. But as the article says, with a program hacked together in 4 hours, people can find out if you are home or not, if you put too much personal information on the web (in this case via twitter).
I just googled my name and remain, at least to the casual search, anonymous. Thank heavens.
I do not think I am being unreasonable in my question for anonymity when it comes to the internet. My quotidian nature and lack of desire to be in the public eye contribute to my unremarkable presence here on the web.
Is it just me? Am I being unreasonable? Tell me what you think of online privacy and how you deal with the interwebs.
bleatmop
Mystro
The Arbourist
Dead Wild Roses 
1 comment
February 23, 2010 at 12:39 pm
The Intransigent One
Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you!
There’s the obvious stuff like PleaseRobMe, which takes minimal effort and relies on stupid levels of disclosure. But that’s the tip of the iceberg.
What really freaks me out is facial recognition software. For getting really reliable matches between, say, just two photos, it’s still in its infancy. That’s why we have to have our passport photos black and white and not smiling. But for fuzzier matches with larger datasets, I have no doubt that the computational power exists – and may even have been used – to chew through massive image libraries and get some idea of who is spending time with whom, for example. I imagine it really helps the software learn when we helpfully tag who’s in a picture. coughFacebookcough.
Right here, right now, for privileged people that currently have nothing to hide, not a big deal. But for example, I haven’t been quite as careful about my image being disseminated, and my face is scattered various places around the Net. Including my Facebook page under my real name. I try to keep my real name separate from my blogging identity by using, among other things, separate email addresses and separate image hosting. But if, in the future, the Powers that Be take exception to my views, it wouldn’t be that hard to look what’s in my Photobucket and chew through FAcebook for photo matches and figure out who I am. (Somebody without facial recognition software, but sufficient time on their hands, could also do it. Or somebody who knows me.)
In my less optimistic moments, it seems to me that social networking in general is people opting in to Big Brother because hey, it’s fun. I just hope it stays fun.
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