foursquare What Are The Risks?
foursquare what is it?
foursquare is a new social networking website that is web and mobile friendly. it is mainly used for connecting with your friends and being able to track them therefore knowing each others locations at all times. It uses your mobile phone to track down your every step and tell other people all about it.
foursquare is a company valued at £61 million. it uses global positioning satellite technology, which are in some mobile phones but not all phones at this time, and the aim is to pinpoint the users locations, then list shops cafes and pubs, and of course other locations of interest such as historical sights and holiday destinations.
You can join in by using tags to 'check in' at venues, for example if you go to a cafe, you can earn points and virtual badges to let others know about the venues that you are using. You can even become a virtual mayor of your favourite places, leaving tips and information for other users.
Twitter and facebook
There are also lists where you can see other foursquare contacts and locate them anywhere in the world. Every time that you check in, you post it on facebook or twitter, and everybody that is connected can keep up with your movements virtually following you wherever you go. On the foursquare website, you can see everybody that is downloading to it from second to second. And of course you can keep an eye on your friends by getting their updates or Pings.
foursquare started in 2009 and since then has developed into over 500,000 users all over the world.
Now for the downside.
We are always hearing about new websites that will be more user friendly and easier to keep in contact with friends and family but are we taking it too far? I won't go into too much detail about the site, for example how it works and the way it manages to do all these wonderful technological miracles or more to the point downright nosiness, but only to say that, surely if this is as open and intrusive as it seems to be, how dangerous is it? Okay, let's start of with the most disturbing aspect of all.
1. You can spy on complete strangers anywhere in the world! With this technology you can see their photos and travel history. So what does this mean? By using facebook and twitter, along with foursquare technology, criminals can build up a profile of any virtual 'victim' and plan their route so that the burglars can keep track of anybody and wait until they know that they are out, and go straight over and break into their house or spy on them.
2 And of course there are the stalkers. Take for example the fact that you are planning to go to a cafe then the cinema, and you are tagging and pinging every move that you make. the fact is that the stalker will know your every move, he will also l know what you look like, and because of the lack of anonymity he will know you well enough so that you may as well just invite him along! There have been newspaper reports of people being sent dozens of abusive e-mails because they have put themselves out there in the public eye with too much information about themselves.
3. Most importantly what about children? All children love new technology, but is it a good idea for a child to reveal exactly where he or she is at any given point? No, didn't think so. Should there be an age limit placed on this site to make sure that children under the age of eighteen can't use it? I have checked the terms and conditions and it seems that you only have to be thirteen and over. Is this the new age of adulthood? No? Didn't think so.
After browsing through the privacy agreement, it does seem to cover all angles to a certain extent, but of course there are such people as hackers who of course can, well, hack!
It seems to me that parents are having to keep an eye on so many new things coming into being on the Internet and mobile phones. To a certain degree a parent can keep their eyes on a computer, but on a mobile phone? Nightmare!
So my initial feelings on this are, first of all the site should make sure it puts in place a good guideline to ensure that children will be safe, and second I think that maybe there should be some sort of explanation of this site and others like it at schools around the country to make sure children will understand the dangers.
Saying this, I am not trying in any way to have a go at this new site, far from it, as these are exciting times where technology is pushing forward against all the barriers of the past, when we had nothing like this and I think it is amazing how far and fast we have come compared to just a few years ago when all we had was a landline phone and maybe a very simple arcade game. So don't let me put you off a good fun site, which, if used properly will bring a lot of fun and enjoyment to your leisure time.
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