But anybody who makes the list has only themselves to blame: it is drawn entirely from Twitter and Facebook updates posted by users of Foursquare.com. Foursquare is a social network that makes use of the GPS technology many people now carry in their mobile phones. When users are out and about, and arrive at a new location – a bar, a shop, a friend’s house - they ‘check in’ with Foursquare, which publishes their exact location with a short message. The site can be configured to put the same message out via users’ Facebook and Twitter feeds.
The point of Foursquare, which only works in certain cities, is to connect with other users visiting the same places as you – and to build up ‘points’ by visiting certain places or posting information (menu recommendations, for instance) which others find useful, in much the way that good eBay sellers get points. The difference is that points in Foursquare mean prizes: the user who visits a particular location most often becomes the ‘mayor’ of that place – and this virtual honour translates to real-world offers and reductions. One bar in NYC offers the first drink free when its current ‘mayor’ visits.
Dutch web developers Boy Van Amstel, Frank Groeneveld and Barry Borsboom saw the Foursquare trend develop – and it occurred to them that as well as telling the world where they were, users were also revealing where they were not. Anybody reading the publicly-accessible messages could find out when somebody was not at home, that person's exact home address – and their full name.
Amstel told the BBC: "People were checking in at their house, or their girlfriend's or friend's house, and sharing the address - I don't think they were aware of how much they were sharing."
In just four hours, the group put together Pleaserobme.com – which harvests relevant Twitter and Facebook updates and puts them together at the Pleaserobme.com URL. Van Amstel explained: "It's basically a Twitter search - nothing new. Anyone who can do HTML and Javascript can do this. You could almost laugh at how easy it is."
Of course the site is not actually intended to encourage crime. "The website is not a tool for burglary," Van Amstel said. "The point we're getting at is that not long ago it was questionable to share your full name on the internet. We've gone past that point by 1,000 miles."
The website now carries an update saying how pleased the site designers are that “people out there [get] our point perfectly”.
source : http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/59908,news-comment,technology,introducing-pleaserobmecom-the-facebook-for-burglars