

Committing Location Based Service Suicide - davidhoffman
http://andrewhy.de/committing-location-based-service-suicide/

======
patio11
You are not your iPhone. You are not your tweets. You are not your checkins.
Quitting a service is not suicide in any meaningful respect.

Relatedly, the construction of identity around relationship to technology is
one of the dangers of spending your time with the tech crowd. If you hang
around the Valley all day and TechCrunch is your only source of news, you
might get the impression that this stuff _matters_. At the end of the day, its
still bits.

~~~
tdoggette
Are phone conversations less real for being remote and digital?

~~~
trezor
In a phone conversation you are having an actual conversation. You can hear a
human, the tone of the voice, hear if the other person responds immideately or
hesitates. You get lots of contextual information you can't get from text
alone.

And as the name implies a telephone conversation is an actual conversation. A
conversation involves interaction.

With twitter you are not so much in a conversation as you yelling and hoping
that gits on the internet will give you attention.

So yes, I'd say there is a difference and it lies in how the medium works, not
in its implementation (i.e. digital or analog).

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rudyfink
Criminal usage of sharing services is potentially an enormous problem. He got
off lightly with realizing his disclosure risks only through stalking.

Using only a few services a criminal could potentially have access to personal
information that would aid in guessing common security prompts (Facebook,
etc), lists of purchases or photos of your possessions (Blippy, Facebook,
Flickr, etc), and your physical location and/or travel plans (Twitter and
numerous others).

I think the anonymity we perceive from the fact that our disclosure is not
person to person is a cognitive misconception. Realistically, we are walking
around and publicly saying these bits of information. Something about telling
them to and receiving them from a computer does not make it seem that way
though.

~~~
enneff
For these reasons I am always deliberately hazy about discussing my travel
plans on Twitter and Facebook. I'll announce when I'm return, but never when I
leave or for how long. The criminal possibilities are too great.

It's always seemed insane to me that anyone would announce their whereabouts
at greater than a square kilometre's accuracy (and even then I'd be paranoid).

------
akkartik
Privacy concerns don't affect you until they affect you.

Most of us aren't worth stalking, or even paying attention to. For most of us,
regardless of our stance on privacy, the benefits of finding people to eat
lunch with ([http://www.amazon.com/Never-Eat-Alone-Secrets-
Relationship/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Never-Eat-Alone-Secrets-
Relationship/dp/0385512058)) outweigh the risks of attracting a stalker.

It's possible that one day we'll get our 15 minutes of fame/notoriety in front
of 15 people or 15 million. Then we'll stop seeking celebrity and care more
about privacy. Mostly without loss, perhaps with some nostalgia for the good
old times.

Don't worry people[1] will steal your privacy; you'll have to shove it down
their throats.

[1] Governments and corporations are a different matter.

------
ebun
I'm actually surprised that there hasn't already been more Location Based
Service-crime. In addition to stalking, it seems like robbery and theft would
be rampant.

There's already been cases where thefts happened after people tweeted that
they were going on vacation ([http://www.socialreflections.com/twitter-
connection-to-home-...](http://www.socialreflections.com/twitter-connection-
to-home-robbery/)). I wouldn't be surprised if the number of social-media
related robbery increases as these services continue to gain traction.

By using services that tell people exactly where you are, you're really
telling people exactly where you aren't: your home.

~~~
pyre
> _By using services that tell people exactly where you are, you're really
> telling people exactly where you aren't: your home._

Craigslist has had its share of issues with people getting robbed. I don't
necessarily think that Craigslist is a bad thing though.

You have the same issue with valets. You give them your keys (which probably
contain the keys to your house/apartment), your insurance information is in
the glove compartment (which contains your address), and they know that you're
not at home because you still need to get your car out of valet.

~~~
ebun
I wasn't aware of stuff happening via CL. Do you have any links? _thanks in
advance_

~~~
pyre
Here you go:

* [http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=5930862&page=1](http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=5930862&page=1)

* [http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/nov/21/news/chi-crai...](http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/nov/21/news/chi-craigslist-robbery-21nov21)

* [http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jan/11/business/fi-craigsli...](http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jan/11/business/fi-craigslist11)

It's the opposite of what was talked about above. They aren't using Craigslist
to figure out when people won't be home, they are using it to lure people to a
particular place to rob them (and make sure that they will have cash on them).

------
ax0n
I'm an avid Brightkite user, and a budding Foursquare user. To me, they both
serve different purposes. For one, I like Brightkite because it's an okay
place to start conversations. If I really want something to go to Twitter and
Facebook, and to easily geo-tag my mobile photo uploads on Flickr, Brightkite
is hard to beat. That said, I don't check in everywhere I go, and my check-ins
are often vague. Cities or major intersections instead of actual addresses or
venues. Of course, there are exceptions.

Generally, I only check in when I want people to know where I am, and it's
often an invitation to come kick it with me. And if I check in to the same
coffee shop every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, you'd bet I'd be glad
to have you come up and and have a talk over a cup of joe if you "stalk" me
and can predict where I'll be. Heck, I've met two people I consider great
friends simply because we were checked in nearby on Brightkite and finally
crossed paths.

It comes down to moderation. If you feel the need to check in every single
time you move more than a few hundred feet in any given direction, you're
probably OCD. Basically, I only check in if I plan on my situation becoming
social.

------
lawrence
While I think the author was a bit heavy handed in his reaction (why not ask
for better privacy tools or checkin a little more selectively?), the privacy +
location services conversation is a pretty interesting one.

Understanding this sort of backlash is probably a pretty big deal to folks
trying to build location into their applications.

------
rickmode
I've used some of these services and I've yet grokked the point. They make me
feel like a baby playing with a mobile: lots of loud noises and blinky lights.
MyTown is the best at this.

So is that all there is to these things? Or are they just geek mobiles?

~~~
jcromartie
They are ego boosters. They are narcissism enablers. That is all.

------
seiji
"I don't like being an ego broadcaster!" he shouted loudly from the nearest
rooftop. A dozen people below looked up in bewilderment, shrugged, then
continued about their day.

Also, you people (yes, I said "you people"), use the word "suicide" too
lightly. I wonder what is prompting people to use extreme/heavy words to
describe everyday casual situations. Is it pure ego and attention driven?

~~~
thwarted
Your assertion that the word suicide should carry more weight reminds me of
complaints that describing a project as "stillborn" is insensitive to parents
that have lost a baby, and that using the terms master/slave in technical
documents is discriminatory.

<http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/master.asp>

~~~
ax0n
A year or so ago, I was going to help a stranger jump-start his car. He didn't
have jumper cables with him, but I keep a set in all of my motorized vehicles.
I generally assume (often rightly so) that folks who don't own a pair of
jumper cables do not know how to correctly utilize them. Whilst giving him the
15-second explanation on their use, he interrupted me.

"Man... why black always gotta be NEGATIVE?"

I took my jumper cables out of his hands, tossed them into the back of my car
and drove off, leaving him with his hood (and his jaw) wide open. I haven't
the time for crap like that.

~~~
mrkurt
I guess you showed him.

------
iron_ball
If we're talking about checkin tedium, why not combine Android's Locale app
with a script which accesses the Foursquare API? When you reach a certain GPS
location, you check in automatically. This would work as long as you don't
have several regular hangouts in the same general area...

------
jey
"Location Based Service" is a lot broader than "Location Based _Social_
{Games, Hacks, Tools}"

