Smartphone stalking

[Zombie]

At the moment I'm reading Rambling Mann's Little Man. It's excellent.

But that's not what this thread is about.

In chapter 7. "What Do We Do Now?" there's this exchange

“How did you guys find me?” I asked.
“I GPS'ed your phone,” Heidi replied.
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“I have a homemade app on my cell that can activate the GPS chip in any phone and direct you to it like a compass.” She spoke very matter-of-factly.
 

 

So I Googled "smartphone stalking" and found loads of sites including this one:

"... domestic-violence victims told the story of a northern Minnesota woman whose abuser tracked her through her smart phone. When the woman went to a domestic-violence shelter, she received a text message asking why she was there. When she went to a courthouse to take out an order of protection, her abuser texted again, this time asking why she was in the courthouse and whether she was getting an order of protection."

"Last year, there was a blowup over the Girls Around Me app, which uses the location-based social-networking service Foursquare to find women in the area who have checked in. The app, which was sold at the Apple App Store until it was pulled, allowed people to use Facebook to find the women’s full names and profile photos. There are many other stalker apps, including one that allows people to physically track others using data from their Flickr and Twitter accounts; it is aptly called Creepy."
 

So, out there could be people or groups who know where you are. Right now.

Creepy indeed.
 

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Edited July 18, 2013 by Zombie

[Bill W]

Welcome to George Orwell's world.  Police have devices on their patrol cars recording license plate numbers, camera's recording everything going on all over the place and GPS that can track your phone or your car.  Anyone getting paranoid? 

[Former Member]

I've always been paranoid.  Lol.  Living in China has taught me that nothing you say is safe, and being a foreigner, you're even more of a target.  Keeping my nose clean has been a top priority.  I don't want to be deported...or be prevented from ever coming back.

 

All of this is pretty creepy stuff.  Just makes me glad I'm not as into social networking as many of my peers are. ^-^

[iSimba]

Paranoid? Not at all. Not even concerned in the slightest.

 

There are things far more worrying to me then how prevalent technology is and what it can do.

[Kitt]

Perhaps you should be a tad more interested. Thank God the ex boyfriend from hell I had to deal with pre-stalker laws didn't have these sorts of apps available. It was hard enough to get rid of the ass!

[Sasha Distan]

a former friend of mine and his mates at Hull Uni were the first people to successfully triangulate bluetooth. they then "stalked" everyone on their campus until a major security company bought the software for many monies.

 

why the fuss about the "Girls Around Me" app when Grindr does the exact same thing? Hell even google maps knows where you are, if you told Google, your shit outta luck from there on out. Ditch your smartphone and move to the countryside.

[Former Member]

Where you're so far away that people don't want to take the effort to stalk you?  XD good plan.