World's Creepiest iPhone App Pulled After Outcry 459
Hugh Pickens writes "Ben Grubb reports that an iPhone app that essentially allowed users to stalk women nearby using a location-based social networking service has been pulled from the iTunes app store by its developer after an outcry of criticism including a comment by Gizmodo labelling the 'Girls Around Me' app as the 'world's creepiest' app and a comment in The New York Times Bits blog, which said it 'definitely' won the prize for being 'too creepy'. The 'Girls Around Me' app utilized publicly available data to show a map with women who had checked-in to locations nearby using Foursquare and let users view Facebook information of those ladies if they had tied their Facebook account to their Foursquare account and if their Facebook account privacy settings were lax enough to allow any user to access it. The promotional website used for marketing the app states that the service 'helps you see where nearby girls are checking in, and shows you what they look like and how to get in touch, adding 'In the mood for love, or just after a one-night stand? Girls Around Me puts you in control! Reveal the hottest nightspots, who's in them, and how to reach them.' Foursquare yanked the Girls Around Me app's access to its data, which in turn led to the app's developer removing it from iTunes as it didn't work properly. In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, the company behind the app defended its creation: 'Since the app's launch till last Friday nobody ever raised a privacy concern because, again, it is clearly stated that Girls Around Me cannot show the user more data than [what Foursqure or Facebook] already does.'"
Re:Good intentions pave the road to a stalking cha (Score:5, Informative)
I bet it honestly never occured to the guys who did this thing that someone might use it for creepy stuff.
Yeah, no, they knew exactly what it was. Just look at the loading screen:
http://www.cultofmac.com/157641/this-creepy-app-isnt-just-stalking-women-without-their-knowledge-its-a-wake-up-call-about-facebook-privacy/ [cultofmac.com]
Re:Women are equal in every way! (Score:5, Informative)
Any bets on whether a "guy around me" app would have raised any inkling of similar outcry?
Actually, despite the name, the app could show either males or females. (Yeah, I know, it's not cool to RTFA.)
Re:Good intentions pave the road to a stalking cha (Score:4, Informative)
I suppose next you're going to suggest that said women should also be responsible for the unwanted attention they get when they wear certain clothes and have only themselves to blame.
Yes. You don't want your boobs stared at, don't display them. We're men, get over it.
Re:Looks like they beat me to it. (Score:4, Informative)
It just goes to show that everyone who think the world is different with social media is deluded. EVERYTHING posted online is available to EVERYONE. I believe we called it "don't post anything online you don't want the world to know". Back when "online" meant two computers dialing each other up via modem, and probably before personal computers, as well.
There's no such thing as privacy settings. At best, they're equivalent to sharing a secret with a bunch of friends - and anyone who's done that knows that it leaks rapidly. Someone will tell someone else, and soon the whole world knows.
And really, anything you put online will get known. Unless you write it only for yourself, at which point why bother putting it online? The Internet's memory is long and unforgiving and anything put online basically lives forever - it can ever be deleted, nor controlled.
Re:Women are equal in every way! (Score:2, Informative)
Equal in things like intellectual capacity and ability? Yes.
Equal in terms of street harassment? Hah, don't I wish. Being followed by a guy telling you to suck his dick ain't compliment, and it isn't rare.