Foursquare Shows the Middle Finger to ‘Please Rob Me’

Posted by Ruk Cooray on February 19, 2010 in Mobile, Security, Web · 0 Comment

Image by bandita via Flickr

It seems that the folks at Foursquare had enough of ‘Please Rob Me’ – the mock service that was setup to expose the danger of privacy invasion caused by tweeting about Foursquare check-ins. In the latest post on its blog, Foursquare has clarified its stand and with all due respect, shown the middle finger to ‘Please Rob Me’.

Every location based service has its own challenges – more so, if it’s linked with an open service such as Twitter. So, is ‘Please Rob Me’ right in claiming that it’s just opened the Pandora’s Box on Foursquare privacy invasion?

I don’t think so. For a start, you can control who follows you on Foursquare so there’s no spam ‘following’ unlike Twitter. Tweeting the Foursquare check-ins converts Foursquare to an asymmetric network and while it may lead to possibilities of intrusion in future – I think for now, it’s safe.

I’m sure; Foursquare will leave no stone unturned of robbing ‘Please Rob Me’ of all its dignity. The stakes are very high and no one knows it better than the folks at Foursquare.