back to article Facebook broadcasts your location in meat space

Facebook piled into the mobile stalking space yesterday, with its Places service which enables users to reveal where they are in meat space with a tap of a finger. The service, which is initially rolling out on iPhones in the US, adds a button to the Facebook mobile application allowing a user to "check in" to his current …

COMMENTS

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  1. Jon Press
    WTF?

    The "People Here Now" feature,..

    ...which allows one to see any Facebook users in the same location..

    Aah, a way for Facebook users to experience glaucoma - looking around and only being able to see a subset of the people actually present.

    Another example of "diminished reality" courtesy of technology.

  2. GeorgeTuk
    Stop

    The "Hello, I'm not at home!" Button

    Please come and rob me blind!

    1. Dale 3

      Got a job

      Being employed means you are not at home for large parts of the day (except for the obvious exceptions). Your daily jaunt down to the train station already broadcasts this fact to any burglars already in range of your house.

      Solution: quit your job and sit at home defending your stuff.

      1. Avatar of They
        Thumb Down

        You miss the point, me thinks

        Right now a burglar needs to watch your house and see you leave.

        With this he can watch a post code or three from the comfort of his already stolen armchair. And with google streetview, he can even take a good look at the layout of the land prior to a jaunt into your particulars.

        Burgling without any of the groundwork it used to have. Genius.

        Then again, most of the sad ******* who use facebook have little life and can be found frequenting chav bars and their own bedrooms. So it isn't really a great boon to the 500 million who can't keep friends without the medium of a website.

        Either way for zuckerberg and his cronies, this will just give him spacial awareness of his target audience and those '$$$' of advertising and sold data will be targeted all the more lucrative.

  3. Rob

    Not long now...

    ... before 'Adult' network sites pick up on these type of features surely?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Missing the point

    "...... opting out of being tagged was too difficult."

    No it's not, just don't have a bloody Facebook account!

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    Rad

    Meat space?

    I got my own qule term for, like, "reality", man... 'meat space' is so old skule.

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/graphics/icons/comment/pint_32.png

    1. bothwell

      surely not

      "http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/graphics/icons/comment/pint_32.png" isn't nearly as catchy as 'meatspace' is.

  6. Trevor Marron

    I have had Google Latitude display my location for ages.

    I have had Google Latitude display my location on my Facebook profile for ages.

    And I have not been robbed/stalked/molested/apprehended/avoided yet. Well I don't think I have been avoided.

    And I know about the privacy issues, it was a choice I made. In any case you can set your location manually, anyone who looked on Monday would have seen I was at Buckingham Palace.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Coat

      re: "I have had Google Latitude display my location for ages."

      Trevor,

      What's your location and budget? A stalking rota could probably be arranged if you're feeling unloved.

  7. David Eddleman

    Well...

    http://pleaserobme.com/

    'nuff said.

  8. Mystic Megabyte
    Stop

    I'm just negative

    (Before reading article) Urge to join Facebook = 0

    (After reading article) Urge to join Facebook = -42

  9. Peter Simpson 1
    Pirate

    Where are you, bitch?

    I believe it's pronounced: "Whea you at?"

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    It was a stupid idea when Yahoo suggested it

    With FB kicking it around, it can only have completely disasterous consequences... Bitch..

  11. Winkypop Silver badge
    FAIL

    Ummm, no thanks

    I'm still playing Life 1.0, and I'm still happy with it.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Useful article

    Just been onto Facebook and turned all the location stuff off in my privacy settings. Seemed pretty easy to do.

  13. EvilGav 1

    I do love . . .

    . . . the abject hatred shown on here for a "thing".

    I use FaceBook for the simple reason is it's a convenient way to keep in contact with a large group of people, in multiple countries around the world. I don't need to keep an extensive list of email and phone numbers (tho I do have an extensive list of phone numbers even so).

    I even use Foursquare, because it amused me and I only use that when I want too, it's not a permanant thing.

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: I do love . . .

      But it's evil and everyone who uses it is stupid DO YOU NOT SEE.

    2. Loyal Commenter Silver badge

      Quite.

      It's a tool. Arguably, a number of its users are too but the thing is: you get to choose which of those users you interact with, and you can usually only expose the information you put on there in the first place.

      Admittedly, it sounds like this new 'feature' allows others to post information about where you are and link it to your profile. As such, this functionality sohuld probably be disabled by default, but such is the nature of a commercial venture aimed at making a profit; your privacy is an externality in this regard until someone gives them a figurative shoeing for it.

  14. N2
    Joke

    and plug in for

    http://pleaserobme.com/

  15. Rob Bailey
    Black Helicopters

    Missing the Marketing Point

    But surely this is about shops/organisations knowing where you are, and direct marketing you?

    i.e. message from facebook. I see you are near Starbucks Leicester Square. Come on in, and get a mocha at 20% off!

    I'll be turning this off.

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