With the recent roll out of the new “Places” service, it is now possible to tag your current location on your Facebook account and broadcast it all to your friends. Facebook aren’t the first to develop such a system, however they will be the biggest provider based on the quantity of users they have.
Privacy has always been a concern on sites like Facebook yet how many thousands of people have completely open profiles with little to no security at all?
While most may not see a problem with this service, and some will see it as useful… there are huge privacy concerns to be had with such a system. I already know many people who have tagged their home (accurately) on Facebook, some even called it by actual house number.
Well done, I know where you live now but more importantly, I know when you are NOT at home because you are locating yourself everwhere. If I know this, who else does?
The whole process of tagging your location has been made even easier with the uptake of smartphones and “app” versions of sites like Facebook being able to access GPS data. Not only does this give accurate location information, it means you can update it where ever you are, whatever time of day or night.
What do you think about Facebook Places, a good idea of a disaster waiting to happen?