“How I became a Foursquare cyberstalker”
The combination of my geek love for technology and my anti-violence work has created a fascination for learning all that I can about technologically facilitated stalking. People post so much personal information online. Do stalkers even need to follow you home and rifle through your garbage anymore to learn more about you? Apparently, all they need is a cellphone and data plan…
How I became a Foursquare cyberstalker written by Leo Hickman and published in the Guardian last week was eery, fascinating, creepy and scary at the same time. Here’s the opening of the article.
Louise has straight, auburn hair and, judging by the only photograph I have of her, she’s in her 30s. She works in recruitment. I also know which train station she uses regularly, what supermarket she shopped at last night and where she met her friends for a meal in her home town last week. At this moment, she is somewhere inside the pub in front of me meeting with colleagues after work.
Louise is a complete stranger. Until 10 minutes ago when I discovered she was located within a mile of me, I didn’t even know of her existence. But equipped only with a smartphone and an increasingly popular social networking application called Foursquare, I have located her to within just a few square metres, accessed her Twitter account and conducted multiple cross-referenced Google searches using the personal details I have already managed to accrue about her from her online presence. In the short time it has taken me to walk to this pub in central London, I probably know more about her than if I’d spent an hour talking to her face-to-face. She doesn’t know it yet, but Louise is about to meet her new digital stalker.
Click Read More to learn even more about Louise and the implications of location based services…
For those of you unfamiliar with Foursquare, it is a very popular cellphone app with over two million users. It uses your phone’s GPS to let your “friends” know where you are and when you got there. Your “friends” can be people through Foursquare, imported from Facebook, Twitter or actual real life friends from your contact list. It can also send out your location through the app, Twitter or Facebook. Since you get “rewards” for checking in about where you are, the app encourages you to divulge your location as often as possible to basically anyone who follows you on Twitter or Facebook. As we all know about Facebook, you only accept friend invitations from your nearest and dearest real life acquaintances. Right…
In Foursquare, you get points and rewards for being the most “social.” You can become the “mayor” of an area by being the person who has checked in the most. If you combine this information with the service Glympse, you can even see on a map, in real time, what time your friend will arrive based on their current location. Real-time stalking without even being able to physically see the person. You don’t even need to tail someone anymore in a car. These kids have it so easy today!
But the rewards aren’t just only little digital badges and imaginary public office titles. According to this Time article you can access a secret menu at Fatburger and get free pizzas from the Modmarket for showing proof that you have “checked in” so many times through Foursquare. Over 200 businesses have signed on to encourage people to publish their locations. Five check-ins gets you a free latte and a potentially life threatening stalker. Last month coding expert, Jesper Andersen, exploited a security glitch in San Francisco. He was able to access over 875,000 check-ins over a 3 week period. He had access to the locations and personal information of all those users. He verified the information with some friends who used Foursquare and immediately freaked them all out.
We all know that people put way to much information online. Foursquare’s default settings aren’t helping that either. The default privacy options are that you have to opt out of things instead of approving them. You have to approve “friend” requests, but a current poll in the UK found that 31% accepted a friend request from a stranger and 29% shared their location with someone other than a friend.
The bottom line is that people can mine a lot of data like this from Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter, Google Latitudes and other location based services and create a very detailed picture of your habits, your location and other intimate details of your life. Apps can always improve their security settings but there are always vulnerabilities and security exploits. There is always a way to hack data even if you are careful about what you share.
But what about Louise? Isn’t all of this her fault because she put all of this information online? Well, she was just surprised as we were. She didn’t even want to use Foursquare but in her field she needs to use the latest technology and using Foursquare was encouraged by her company. Here is what she had to say about the precautions she took.
“I thought I was being very careful with what I was posting. I never thought I was revealing personal information. I only use my maiden name when using social networking apps. And I never check in when at my kids’ school or at home. But, as you’ve shown, I can’t see who’s following me on Twitter. If I was going out for an evening with my girlfriends again, I don’t think I would now share it with the world via Foursquare.” (Louise’s setting on Foursquare automatically tweets her location whenever she checks into a location, which was how I could tell via her Twitter feed, without being her Foursquare “friend”, where she had been in recent days in such detail.).
She took some good precautions. She had definitely at least thought about certain aspects of what to post and how to keep herself safe. It seems that she was unaware of the nature and content of the information being shared and how accessible it was, which led to a complete stranger tracking her down within a few feet of her location.
In order to increase people’s awareness of how much information they put online the website PleaseRobMe.com was created. The purpose? To show users of apps like Foursquare and Twitter exactly how exposed they are. I think a quote from the founders of PleaseRobMe is a good way to end this post. “The issue with location-based information is that it exposes another layer of personal information that we haven’t had to think much about: our exact physical location at anytime, anywhere. If you’re comfortable being a human homing beacon, that’s fine, we just want you to be fully aware of what that means and the potential risks it might involve.”
Update: Thanks for all the comments! I’ve loved the discussion. However, I do want to raise awareness about one last thing related to stalking. A lot of people commented about how scary this story was but then quickly reassured themselves that it isn’t relevant to them because they only divulge information to friends, acquaintances, coworkers and family members. One of the reasons that this story is scary is because it is a stranger. However, statistically, stranger stalkers are not what you should be worried about. Of the 3.4 million who are stalked in the U.S. every year, over 75% of them know their stalker. The majority of stalkers are former intimate partners (30%), friends, acquaintances and/or coworkers. If you consider who is on your friends list and who has access to your information, those are the people most likely to stalk you. Next month, I am giving a workshop about how individuals can reduce their chances of being stalked through technology. I’ll post the PowerPoint on here for anyone who is interested in learning more.
This is definitely scary. Unfortunately technology today is making the world an unsafe place. We used to want privacy…now we willing lend out personal information for all of the world to see.
http://www.wutevs.wordpress.com
I like to think I’m careful, but I use Facebook, have a blog, use wireless internet for business transactions, have a Flickr account, etc, etc. I avoid Foursquare and Twitter-like apps, but with all the security vulnerabilities, I’m not sure I’m any safer. It is unfortunate that to “stay connected” we have to divulge so much information. It’s a tricky balance. As a young professional, I want to put myself out there and have people know who I am. However, there are a lot of people that I would be happy if they never knew how to get in touch with me…ugh.
I feel that we are allowing ourselves to be more personal over the internet because we all have that pleasure of being recognized. We want people to know who we are and what we do. The internet has the capability to ask the questions and we come running with our answer and everyone has the power to answer. What a wonderful classroom of Global participation the internet has allowed!
lol
Good blog. I use Foursquare and have like 3 friends. I keep getting stalker requests from men I don’t know. It’s a small world we live in now. Be safe.
When I first downloaded FourSquare my friends and I thought it was cool. I became the mayor of one of our favorite coffee shops and soon enough it became a friendly competition. However, we soon questioned why a bunch of 20-30 somethings even cared about something so trivial.
http://www.thedailyawe.com
It does seem a bit trivial to be named the mayor of a coffee shop! It seems like the novel factor keeps it going. I expect that if businesses decide to throw some concrete bonuses at customers, it will provide a bit of a bump. However, I’m not sure they could offer something that would persuade me to use it. If I want my friends to know exactly where I am, I’ll hang out with them. I don’t want to knock it because it’s not my thing. However, if you don’t look over the privacy settings, it could allow people to engage in some pretty creepy monitoring. Also, I cannot imagine why I would want to allow strangers to monitor my location either.
That’s why i stay off the grid quite a lot.
This post drew me right in like a great novel! (Except that is based on fact which is the true scary part)
I do social media stratgey work so I am supposed to be “cool” & in on all the latest, but I chose to stop FourSquare early on after I realized the only “conversation” and interaction it prompted was limited.
These social platform default settings is the biggest problem, more people should rally them all to have closed settoings that we can choose to loosen vs the other way around.
I agree that one initial step is to have default security settings on the safe side. We’re all guilty of clicking “Accept” without reading the 25 page security and conditions jargon. We just want to access our game/software/app/ebook/music/etc. I think it’s the responsibility of both parties, developers and users, to create a safer experience. I won’t befriend every stranger that asks and you can give me security settings that allow me to safely connect with my friends without broadcasting my personal info. to every creepo and third party vendor in the world. I would rather allow people to access my data instead of the program assuming I want every friend of a friend to follow my route to the grocery store on Twitter!
This great “public service” post drew me right in like a great novel. Too bad its based on frightening true facts!)
I do social media stratgey work so I am supposed to be “cool” & in on all the latest, but I chose to stop FourSquare early on after I realized the two-way conversation it prompted was limited.
Social platforms small & large, need more social responsibility. (Like alcohol and cigarette co postoing their own warnings) The social platform default settings are the biggest problem, more people should rally them to have this spelled out clearly upon set up. Perhaps they can default to conservative settings that we can choose to undo.In our hasty world we are too quick to stop & think sometimes, and that includes even me, a social media strategist.
I’m not on Foursquare, but my friend has his updates on Facebook. Every once in a while I see Mike has just checked in at McDonalds. Mike has just checked in at Popeyes. My first thought is always so what?
You make valid points, but we can’t sit around and blame these social sites for exposing our personal lives. Instead we should take the time to not simply sign up for every next big social media site. I will admit finding where privacy settings are located and learning how to adjust them to your liking can sometimes be a task, but doing so is obviously worth it as you have shown with your default settings argument.
I just don’t think we can blame social media sites for our lack of thoroughness. If you are that scared of being stalked, robbed, kidnapped, or whatever do the due diligence to protect your privacy online, it can be done.
i don’t think anyone is sitting around blaming the sites. But you can blame them when they have unhelpful or potentially harmful security settings, flaws and loopholes. I remember when google latitude first came out it was used in a stalking case because the offender got a hold of the person’s cellphone for about 45 seconds to install it and accept it. Anyone ever left their cellphone out of their sight for 45 seconds? After that it never once alerted the owner of the cell phone whenever the offender tracked their location. The offender was able to receive daily emails about their location and travel throughout the day. Now they have changed it so that when someone wants to know your location, you get a text message and have to approve it. So you can complain about social sites, especially when they create settings that expose people to risks. Obviously, you need the user to be responsible, but if there are flaws with the program/app/software and security vulnerability to hackers, those are fair game for discussion and blame. You can take all of the security precautions you want, but if there are security flaws in how you transmit or store data, just like in the San Francisco hacking incident, people can access it.
Great post and so alarmingly true. I think that this is taking reckless social media use to the next level in terms of danger. Teenagers especially are highly unlikely to think of the real-world implications that the incorrect use of this location-based social network may cause. I think there needs to be more buzz about how careful one needs to be with using Foursquare.
http://www.socialbutterflyonline.net
A wonderful post – unfortunately most people have no clue – the local police were suggesting on Friday that people don’t post vacation plans on facebook – makes good sense to me. Why would you want to tell people when you wont be home and when the best time to visit your home might be. A friend actually did a similiar experiment where she added a fake user name and went about adding poeple on facebook telling them that she went to school with them years ago or that she is a freind of one of their friends and they met at a party – she has 300 friends that she has never met. Crazy
I’ve never understood why anyone would want to use Foursquare. It is like a stalker’s dream. It is the Internet, people. Do you want to tell the whole world exactly where you are and what you’re doing at every minute? Why? Just text your friends if you want them to meet you. That way you know it’s private.
This is exactly why I don’t use Foursquare for my personal life.
Absolutely nuts. I draw the line at anything that tracks me, not because I’m being “nefarious” or am up to mischief but because I enjoy privacy and not being on-demand to my friends. A true friend doesn’t facebook slam you, text you six times, and email you just to ask if you want to go to a movie over the weekend. Most things in life really aren’t anywhere near important enough to demand instant access and response.
I just recently saw someone on facebook “check in” from the freeway! Why on earth would anyone care that you are driving on the freeway. I’m all for social networks but there is a fine line between using it, and the site/internet using you. Thanks for the article
http://www.thecooldown.wordpress.com
I hate to say this, but it seems like the only way some of these sites end up failing is if and when something tragic happens. But really, is Craigslist any better since the Craigslist killer came to light?? Why would ANYONE want to post their every move on a social networking site?
I closed my Foursquare account along with my Facebook account about 2 weeks ago. Why? I’d like to say that I smartened up and had my safety in mind, but it was only because with Foursquare, I thought at 44 yrs old, why do I care if I become ‘mayor’ of anything. I became the ‘mayor’ of my workplace and was actually happy that I could claim that. Then it hit me that because I work at a nursing home, I probably didn’t have much competition with ‘checking in’.
And with Facebook, unfortunately a good majority of my ‘friends’ acted like they were still in high school. There was the ‘cliques’, anger, aggression, and so on, and it all centered around politics. It got nasty and I got tired of it.
Bottom line…for whatever reason I got out of the social networking world, I’m happy I did. I seems to get scarier everyday.
This is scary. I know this requires for information to be available. If it is for my family and friends, I don’t mind. But the problem is that the information is accesible to all…even pedophiles and people such as. Great read though…
-Noor
http://noor724.wordpress.com/
The main purpose of the post was to simply raise awareness about the issue. After writing this, I immediately went and checked my security settings across all my gadgets and sites! It’s important to talk about it instead of just saying “Well, people should just know.” Unfortunately, most people don’t read the instruction manual, car manual, employee handbook, student misconduct policy, local and state legal statutes, etc. until there is a problem. In a perfect world everyone would be aware of all of the details at all times. It’s just not that way. If you’re interested in primary prevention, like MAC is, it’s important to educate others and to get them to think about things they might not think about regularly.
One major influence on when and how these apps &software change their settings for the better is when there has been a tragedy, like Norah mentioned above, or when the settings get enough press attention. It’s not about railing against the product or the people who use it. It’s about making the product safer and making sure people are aware of how their information may be accessed. Great comments! What other products or services should have been mentioned in the article. What did we miss?
Interesting take! I really enjoyed reading it!
Ed
I’ve never used foursquare but I have to wonder WHY anyone would want everyone to know their location. Yes, I twitter but I dont tweet about my exact location unless its at an event. (concert, airport trip, etc). It just seems really creepy to me to let random strangers know your every move
I agree! It seems like most people may not know that the default setting publishes all that information. I have not used foursquare, but the article made it sound like unless you specifically alter the settings, you’re exact location of each check-in is sent out. Of course, there are those people that “friend” everyone without knowing who they are. Combine that with lax security settings and it sounds like trouble.
As a woman, I was very nervous about opening a Foursquare account.
At first, I didn’t see the point of it and joked with my girlfriends who did have it ~ that they were making it easy for their “stalkers.” But in journalism school we are encouraged to be involved in every major social networking-cosm out there so I joined.
Honestly, now that I joined I really like it and think the rewards and whatnot are a lot of fun ~ but this article reminded me that I need to retrace my steps and look at it again.
It may be a part of my field to be on Foursquare or anywhere else, but I need to make sure that my fun doesn’t turn into ignorance.
Thanks for the reminder and I will definitely check out the web site provided.
wow… nice blog.. check http://www.wtfgossip.wordpress.com
Great article. Social Media and networking tools are very dangerous, but their potency for reaching thousands of people instantly make them critical in online and offline uses such as branding and promotion. Business want the world to know you like their pizza, but people only want their friends to know. There are ways to make social networking information more private… but many users don’t know how to change the settings and the ones that do know, ignore them.
http://spencerjulien.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/a-dangerous-web/
probably should have added foursquare and mobile apps to the web.
Oh my gosh, that’s really scary. I’ve never heard of Foursquare, but I have heard stories of people being stalked over Facebook and Myspace. This is really making my wonder about all the posts on the blog…
-GWP14
Your info provides an important public service. People are still so unaware that anything they post can make them vulnerable.
This is extremely creepy and scary! There are really disturbed people out there! I just want my blog read, and my book read! I don’t do the apps stuff like foursquare and all the phone stuff!I hope I am not as vulnerable as this!
evelyngarone.com
Your article has opened my eyes about it. I’ve visited PleaseRobMe website few months ago. The main thing here is to make sure and be careful on what you are going to post online.
Oh this is cool and insightful. I’m really careful about that geo locator thing so I try not to use it…
I’m really glad you wrote this article. I had just signed up for fourquare a few days ago… and now I think I might delete my account. I’ve always cared too little about how much of my info is online. I guess I’m a victim of the era.
I never really give out to much info about where or when I’m going places online anyway. I’ve heard about this alot, not with Foursquare though. I never met or seen anyone other then the few people that was in the CCN story about the app use it, am I out the loop?
I’ve never used it or known anyone who uses it. From what I looked at today, it looks like it is pretty popular in about 11-14 major cities across the US. It boasts around 2 million users. I’ve read about a lot of users in San Francisco, but apparently there are at least a couple in London for the author to have located Louise in the pub. Iowa City isn’t big enough to need a friend location app. I can walk around downtown and see most of the people I know!
Thanks for the great insight. I suppose it’s a catch twenty-two situation really. People use twitter, FB, blogs and the like for different reasons without properly realising the risks presented to them. A quick google search will tell you so much about a person these days it’s quite breathtakingly scary.
I’ve been thinking about these kind of things for a while, and watching the various tech blogs as they report each security problem which pops up. I am a technophile and love using the new social media outlets as they come out, but it problematic when everything you do becomes part of the public domain.
the technology however, will not go away, so we are going to have to reconcile our place in the world and how we relate to new technology. Using social media is essential, but knowing what the boundaries are and how much we should release is key. Personally, I only release important information to close friends and family, any other items of information which could be garnished from such sources as foursquare I’ve usually released anyway as part of my public (versus private) life and personality.
Good post, keep up the interest in all things technology and security. You can find me over at http://www.alexanderfogleman.wordpress.com, if interested.
This great post.I enjoy with this post.Thank!
http://www.sanukyogamat.com
Thanks for posting about this! I recently starting using FourSquare because I REALLY like the tips you can learn about places before you go. It’s been really useful so far.. HOWEVER, I’m totally aware of the risks AND I NEVER check into a location until I’m LEAVING it..
That’s kinda freaky! Going to check my twitter privacy setting now!
definitely scary. the recent advances in technology is changing the way we do things, even stalking. haha… privacy is slowly becoming a thing of the past what with facebook status updates, tweets (and some with locations too especially blackberry users), formspring, foursquare, etc. i don’t know how things will evolve in the future, but for now, I am going to be more careful with the information i share online.
This post has been most educating and disturbing (though education is usually like that anyway…) in teaching me so much about how things work online. A word of advice, though: It probably isn’t generally acceptable to say that you are giving a stalking workshop because people might get the wrong idea. Or the right idea, depending on your intention.
haha! you might be right about the stalking workshop phrasing. How about this? “I’m giving a workshop about how people can reduce their likelihood of being stalked through technology.”
Very good post, informative!
I should definitely take note you never know who is watching..
Totally agree!! Now, when does it become an invasion of privacy. Someone posted ” Another day at the In-Laws” and they it showed their address, street name and all on 4Square. People can write things about a 3rd partie’s address without you even knowing. Be careful people!!!!!
Totally agree!! Now, when does it become an invasion of privacy? Someone posted ” Another day at the In-Laws” and they it showed their address, street name and all on 4Square. People can write things about a 3rd partie’s address without you even knowing. Those poor in-laws. Be careful people and be considerate of other’s personal information. If you want to put your own, have fun but don’t put us all in harms way. 4Square is really one of the stupidest inventions of all time.