Foursquare and Twitter Stalking Goes Rogue via @jesseluna

twittamentary's picture

Location, location, location!  The year 2010 is the year of geo-location based applications such as Foursquare and Twitter has also added location based features.  But will the combination of real-time web and geolocation info increase the vulnerability of Twitter'ers to stalking online and in real life?
This story about cyberstalking comes to us through Twitter'er Jesse Luna who had the 'creepy' experience of being stalked on Foursquare and Twitter: 
Will these self-identified stalkers ruin your cyber community? Or will we ban these bullies from our playground?
 
A site called PhoneLosers.com has been stalking dozens of people using Foursquare, Twitter search, and Facebook. Supposedly, their main goal is to prank people and get them to post about them or the event.
This is part of the PhoneLosers.com forum post by someone named RBCP (appears to also be @rbcp on Twitter), urging people to stalk Foursquare users:
"Make a new thread in this board for each person you stalk. If that gets out of hand, we’ll figure out a different way to organize it. It would be cool to include a phone call with your stalking, but I guess a transcript would work too. Most Twitterers are such attention whores that they’ll post about being stalked too. Or they might Facebook it, so check their Facebooks too and post their reactions in the thread you create. – RBCP"
For more, please read Jesse Luna's original blog post. 
 

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jesseluna's picture

Follow Up

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Once I did the blog post, several of the PhoneLosers comment ed on the blog.  I allowed many of their comments so that people could see the warped and abusive energy behind their actions.
We have to be calculated when we share information - whether it's location info or personal info. There will always be creeps and trolls who are anxious to use it for their amusement.
But it's just like living in a house with windows.  Windows allow you see out but are an easy way to break in. We can live in all-brick houses to avoid break-ins, but then we'd miss the view. ~@JesseLuna

sioksiok's picture

What do you do when someone stalks you on Twitter?

Jesse,
you are obviously not alone in your concern about being stalked on Twitter.  Popular blog Bit Rebels just posted a story, posing the question: "What do you do when someone stalks you on Twitter?"
I am curious to see how many other Twitter'ers share this concern.

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