

Girls Around Me: One Woman's Defense of the 'Stalking' App - acak
http://www.pcworld.com/article/253089/girls_around_me_one_womans_defense_of_the_stalking_app.html

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zem
she has missed the main reason the app is creepy, which is that it panders to
and encourages the woman-as-prey mentality.

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robwgibbons
While I agree it's a good wake-up call to people inadvertently sharing more
than they'd like with the public, I don't think it matters so much that the
data was already public, so much as the way the app puts that data to use.

Most other location-based services have some sort of unique value proposition
or special utility using the location data, or are targeted to a specific
genre or use-case.

Girls Around Me, although you could claim it has its own "use case," does
nothing more than show you _everyone_ who's checked in near you, with no
qualifier other than the fact that they're female.

This, to me, is an inherently creepy service and an aggregation aimed strictly
at hormonal males, with the dangerous side-effect of exposing females who may
or may not be smart enough to defend themselves.

