Please rob me!

Jacqueline DiOrio 17 Feb, 2010 at 3:09pm ET Article published in Tech

A new website called pleaserobme.com has popped up on the web with the intent of illustrating that web users often freely provide valuable information on their whereabouts.

Location-based applications are becoming increasingly popular as time passes. For example, Foursquare, an application that interfaces with Twitter to let users post their whereabouts for others, has become immensely popular. While Foursquare can result in some neat and impromptu connections, it also gives out extremely vital information to the entire Internet: You are no longer at home.

Pleaserobme.com is an aggregator that gathers Foursquare posts from Twitter users in order to point out that their residence is now open to robbery. Even worse, if users have friends that have used Foursquare to mark when they are at different people’s homes, addresses could also be on Foursquare.

While Foursquare is an interesting application, sites like Pleaserobme are a fresh take on old wisdom, which advises caution with personal information on the web.

Comments

17 Feb 2010 ~ 3:12pm primesuspect This is total BS, grandstanding, and an attempt to get traffic.

Just because someone checks in to Foursquare does NOT mean their house is empty, by any means.
17 Feb 2010 ~ 3:15pm Thrax It's not a guarantee, you're right. It's a pretty damn strong indicator, however.
17 Feb 2010 ~ 3:17pm Snarkasm It certainly increases the odds, though.

It's legit. People are paranoid about their phone's GPS telling the carriers where they are, but they'll gladly broadcast that they're the mayor of the pizza place four blocks down. It's pretty silly.
17 Feb 2010 ~ 3:22pm shwaip I think that a trip to target might not make someone a more likely theft target, but if you tweet something like "Taking the family on vacation to Hawaii, see you all next week", that's gonna up your odds of being robbed.
17 Feb 2010 ~ 3:23pm GnomeQueen Considering how much information we put on social media sites today, I don't think that it would be terrifically hard for a smart thief to figure out how many people live in a house and when they aren't home.
17 Feb 2010 ~ 3:26pm Thrax

primesuspect wrote:

This is total BS, grandstanding, and an attempt to get traffic.

Just because someone checks in to Foursquare does NOT mean their house is empty, by any means.

1. You post your own address on Twitter.
2. You post that you have two children who are in school; this virtually guarantees they're out of the house between 9 AM and 2 PM.
3. You've posted that your roommate has a job, virtually guaranteeing he'll be out of those between 9 and 4.
4. You broadcast that you're not home through Foursquare.

Still sure someone can't figure out when your house is empty, and where it's located?
17 Feb 2010 ~ 3:28pm shwaip

Thrax wrote:

1. You post your own address on Twitter.
2. You post that you have two children who are in school; this virtually guarantees they're out of the house between 9 AM and 2 PM.
3. You've posted that your roommate has a job, virtually guaranteeing he'll be out of those between 9 and 4.
4. You broadcast that you're not home through Foursquare.

Still sure someone can't figure out when your house is empty, and where it's located?

It's cool, it's not like he has a crazy asian stalker who wants to take his penis.
17 Feb 2010 ~ 3:39pm Grimnoc I think the lesson we all need to learn here is the need to dispossess ourselves of all electronic devices, drop off the grid, and go forth into the wilderness.

There we will take up shelter in abandoned missile silos and mountainside caves. We will learn to break wild horses and tame our surroundings. Our nails will become caked with soil and bodies covered in the sweat of a hard day's work.

In this new age no longer will our days be drowned in a never-ending stream of meaningless data. The need to instantly communicate each microscopic change in our lives will slow and whither. The fetters of technology will slough from our shoulders. We will be unburdened.
17 Feb 2010 ~ 3:55pm chrisWhite Here's the thing, for most of us, this doesn't matter at all. Unless you're super wealthy or have exceptionally expensive things to steal then posting that you're out at the coffee shop is exactly like pulling your car out of the garage while someone's watching. Unless you're a specific target then this really changes nothing. The sheer number of people using services like Brightkite, Foursquare or even Twitter if you're on a phone with GPS and have geolocation on it's more trouble then it's worth for someone to collect information and rob you.

It seems to me like it's an argument similar to those made by people think you should never, ever, meet someone online in real life because they're probably some creepy internet stalker. Sure, they're out there, but at this point you're about as likely to meet a creepy stalker at the grocery store as one in a mainstream web situation.
17 Feb 2010 ~ 4:23pm Cliff_Forster Oh, the evil things I could do with the aid of the internet, but I do not for I am a cool god fearing kind of guy, but trust me, It's crossed my mind.

We had a series of robberies near our home about a year ago. They would case their victims by just watching their behavior and taking notes as the drove around. Mr. leaves for work 6:30 AM, Mrs. grocery shops every Wed at about noon. They would try and get in behind the Mrs. without forcing an entry, simply walk right in behind her, knowing the Mr. and the kids were away. Apparently they never hurt anyone, because they never got into a fight, heres the deal, cash, purse, jewelry, and the twix bars you just bought and we will be leaving.

Point being, they can case you the old fashioned way, or the new way. Lock your doors, get an alarm, and make a habit of cleaning your firearm while sitting in broad daylight on your front porch.
17 Feb 2010 ~ 4:31pm chrisWhite +10 for having dogs.
17 Feb 2010 ~ 4:31pm Grimnoc

Cliff_Forster wrote:

Point being, they can case you the old fashioned way, or the new way. Lock your doors, get an alarm, and make a habit of cleaning your firearm while sitting in broad daylight on your front porch.

Or take my advice, which is infinitely cooler.
17 Feb 2010 ~ 4:32pm BlackHawk Since most burglars don't do their robberies on impulse but actually do their research. They'll already know your name, when you leave and where you work. At the very least, this site will let the burglar cyberstalk you to get the info instead of physically stalking you.
17 Feb 2010 ~ 4:39pm mertesn

shwaip wrote:

It's cool, it's not like he has a crazy asian stalker who wants to take his penis.

I would hope that if he weren't home this wouldn't be an issue...
17 Feb 2010 ~ 4:42pm Cliff_Forster

Grimnoc wrote:

Or take my advice, which is infinitely cooler.

Lets see what Thrax thinks about that (he would not last two hours)

Hey man, I'm not 100% opposed to it. I go on vacation for a week every summer and I don't touch a PC, and I barely touch a cell phone, and its actually pretty fantastic. I endorse your plan as long as the cave is relatively warm in winter.
17 Feb 2010 ~ 4:42pm Thrax He had me until "dispossess."
17 Feb 2010 ~ 4:44pm Koreish I wonder how this will change the show It Takes a Thief?
17 Feb 2010 ~ 5:06pm primesuspect I happily blast my information out there for everyone to see. Let's consider it a social experiment of sorts, or a conscious rejection of privacy for my own weird needs. Perhaps I am an exhibitionist or just insecure.
17 Feb 2010 ~ 5:32pm Snarkasm So because you're happy to do it, it's not a legitimate concern for anybody? Total BS grandstanding? What about when you tweet that you're at Mom's with Snarky? Anybody who knows about me knows I'm out of the country and likely not coming back any time soon, at that point.
17 Feb 2010 ~ 6:23pm ardichoke Clearly the real lesson here is don't own anything that's worth stealing... unless you can take it with you when you leave the house.
17 Feb 2010 ~ 6:43pm shwaip

mertesn wrote:

I would hope that if he weren't home this wouldn't be an issue...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDss8V2OME4
17 Feb 2010 ~ 6:47pm Winfrey Not to be confused with the altruistic website pleaserobeme.com

shielding the world from nakedness after showering since 1999.
17 Feb 2010 ~ 8:10pm chrisWhite BrightKite responds (though not directly).

P.S. I'll take BrightKite over FourSquare any day of the week.
17 Feb 2010 ~ 9:00pm Jengo Meh.. dont even use twitter that much...
17 Feb 2010 ~ 9:40pm djmeph I saw someone today who posted their address on Twitter. I don't meant to stereotype but it's usually iPhone users.
17 Feb 2010 ~ 9:43pm djmeph 1. I live in the hood, in Pontiac.
2. My pregnant roommate sleeps through everything.
3. I'm a geek so I have lot's of expensive toys throughout the house, most of them portable.
4. Mess with my pit bull. I dare ya.
18 Feb 2010 ~ 10:57am AlexDeGruven Grandstanding by Cyber-luddites.

It's the same type of hyperbole that's used throughout the world by people who have a beef against something they don't totally understand.
19 Feb 2010 ~ 12:25pm DrLiam Was thinking of signing up for Foursquare but now I'm going to think twice, great article! Thanks.
19 Feb 2010 ~ 5:37pm drasnor I don't know why we're acting like this is a new phenomenon. If you want to burglarize some nerds, the ham radio community has been doing this for decades. There are websites where you can check the current locations of hams in a geographic area and the FCC maintains an online listing of their mailing addresses. You can also safely assume that anyone using the service is:

1) Over 60 years old.
2) Has a lot of nice stuff.

To date, I haven't heard of any hams getting stalked or burglarized.

-drasnor