Burglary Ring Used Facebook Places To Find Targets

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Burglary Ring Used Facebook Places To Find Targets

Posted by timothy on Sunday September 12, 2010 @09:21AM from the my-younger-cousins-like-this-and-3-other-pages dept.

Kilrah_il writes "A burglary ring was caught in Nashua, NH due to the vigilance of an off-duty police officer. The group is credited with 50 acts of burglary, the targets chosen because they posted their absence from home on the Internet. '"Be careful of what you post on these social networking sites," said Capt. Ron Dickerson. "We know for a fact that some of these players, some of these criminals, were looking on these sites and identifying their targets through these social networking sites."' Well, I guess the prophecies came true."

152 comments

Nothing new by Dyinobal · 2010-09-12 09:22 · Score: 4, Informative

There was a group or person that was using twitter, to find targets
1. Re:Nothing new by mickwd · 2010-09-12 09:28 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  And Google Street View's a gift for casing the joint - checking houses without burglar alarms, or with old/cheap ones, checking access and escape routes, etc - with no suspicion whatsoever, and no chance of a neighbour being able to remember someone acting a bit strangely a few days before a burglary took place.
2. Re:Nothing new by zero.kalvin · 2010-09-12 09:30 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Obligatory Futurama quote: Professor: Amy, technology isn't intrinsically good or evil. It's how it's used. Like the Death Ray.
3. Re:Nothing new by Jah-Wren+Ryel · 2010-09-12 09:50 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  And Google Street View's a gift for casing the joint - checking houses without burglar alarms, or with old/cheap ones
  Yeah because you can totally see a burglar alarm from the street -- with google's resolution you can't even see if they have a sticker in the window.
  
  --
  When information is power, privacy is freedom.
4. Re:Nothing new by Darkness404 · 2010-09-12 09:51 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  The problem is, the media jumps on all this stuff like its brand new, thieves did the same thing ages ago. Just drive around a neighborhood where someone said at the bar they were going out of town and break in with a car with cheap magnetic decals of a cable company/telephone company/whatever.
  
  --
  Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
5. Re:Nothing new by hex0D · 2010-09-12 10:01 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  It's no different from people letting their mail / newspapers stack up, leaving conspicuously vacant garages / parking spots, all the house lights off or any number of obvious "I'm not home! Good time to rob me!" signs.
  Headline might as well be 'Bad Things Happen To Those Who Make Dumb Choices'
6. Re:Nothing new by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 10:03 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  The problem is, the media jumps on all this stuff like its brand new
  That's usually the case with any form of Darwinism. Hey stupid, don't post your whereabouts and habits on the public Internet unless you want *everybody* to know about them including some very unsavory people. How hard is this to understand? Anybody who doesn't comprehend that doesn't want to. A little cause and effect is just the cure.
  
  Hey America I hate to break it to you, but being completely oblivious about the potential consequences of your decisions isn't such a great idea. True for everything from this subject on the personal level all the way up to the politics of "if we just give them a little more power they'll keep us safe, honest!"
7. Re:Nothing new by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 10:04 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  Aren't burglar alarms housed in big red/blue boxes on the outside of houses? I'm sure you could spot one of those from the street ...
8. Re:Nothing new by mickwd · 2010-09-12 10:10 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Ah yes, the old "hang around in a bar until someone shouts out their address, and that they're going out of town for a while, then pull up outside their house in a car with cheap magnetic decals of a cable company" trick.
  Funny how the cops never seem to think of going to the local magnetic-decals-of-cable-companies shop and asking questions, isn't it?
9. Re:Nothing new by Jah-Wren+Ryel · 2010-09-12 10:20 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Aren't burglar alarms housed in big red/blue boxes on the outside of houses?
  Yeah, they even have labels on them that say "burglar alarm - do not tamper under penalty of law!"
  
  --
  When information is power, privacy is freedom.
10. Re:Nothing new by hex0D · 2010-09-12 10:26 · Score: 1
  
  No, it's really not. Whether people are noticing what your doing or not is the most important factor in getting away with a crime. Casing a joint in person remains the only real way to determine this, AFAIK, and all the other things you mention are much better evaluated by a visit as well. Street View isn't really going to show you that the neighbor typically sits looking out on where you want to enter, and it's much less a big deal being caught acting suspiciously than it is red handed in a criminal act.
  IANAB (I Am Not A Burglar), but if I was I'd like to think I'd be good one.
11. Re:Nothing new by causality · 2010-09-12 10:29 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Headline might as well be 'Bad Things Happen To Those Who Make Dumb Choices'
  I think this is another "but somehow it's different because a computer was involved!" type of issue.
  
  --
  It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
12. Re:Nothing new by Algorithmn · 2010-09-12 11:56 · Score: 1, Flamebait
  
  I thought the box near my garbage can that said "Mossberg" on it and the 3 empty 50lb bags of dog food were enough? Is my "NRA Inside means you stay out" sticker on my window just for good measure? Stupid crooks like these guys think they're smarter then they are typically die whimpering.. alone.. on my kitchen floor.. and if they don't die fast enough I'll smother them with the book of Job for good measure. If that doesn't work I think Monday Night Redemption is OK too... Long live the Castle Doctrine!!
13. Re:Nothing new by fast+turtle · 2010-09-12 12:01 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  I'd love them to break into my home. It's on Starbase 963, Deck 35, Corridor J in the Beta Quadrant because if anyone is able to successfully break in, then I want access to their ship so I can get home.
  
  --
  Mod me up/Mod me down: I wont frown as I've no crown
14. Re:Nothing new by MRe_nl · 2010-09-12 12:30 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Please stop eating dog food. I think it's affecting your hormonal levels.
  
  --
  "Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
15. Re:Nothing new by NotQuiteReal · 2010-09-12 12:54 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Funeral notices are the classic... what close family members don't go to the funeral?
  
  --
  This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
16. Re:Nothing new by Nadaka · 2010-09-12 12:55 · Score: 1
  
  Thats great... Until your facebooks says you are at the vet.
17. Re:Nothing new by retchdog · 2010-09-12 13:18 · Score: 1
  
  It is different. A postal mailbox doesn't have a button hidden behind the hinge of the front door which, unless you press it, will publish the fronts of your envelopes (but only the fronts, anything more would be invasive y'see) and summary statistics on mail received, in the Orangeville Residents' Bulletin and Book of Faces.
  OK it's not a perfect analogy, and maybe it's not fundamentally different, but online life has more gotchas than what meets the eye. Privacy and forgetting have to be engineered in; there aren't physical limitations.
  
  --
  "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
18. Re:Nothing new by TapeCutter · 2010-09-12 13:22 · Score: 1
  
  "There was a group or person that was using twitter, to find targets"
  
  Rob me now
  
  --
  And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
19. Re:Nothing new by HawaiianToast · 2010-09-12 13:26 · Score: 1
  
  Crowbars, ski masks and sneakers are gifts for burgling too... I think this point is baloney. It's merely a convenience, burglar or not.
20. Re:Nothing new by causality · 2010-09-12 13:33 · Score: 1
  
  It is different. A postal mailbox doesn't have a button hidden behind the hinge of the front door which, unless you press it, will publish the fronts of your envelopes (but only the fronts, anything more would be invasive y'see) and summary statistics on mail received, in the Orangeville Residents' Bulletin and Book of Faces.
  OK it's not a perfect analogy, and maybe it's not fundamentally different, but online life has more gotchas than what meets the eye. Privacy and forgetting have to be engineered in; there aren't physical limitations.
  The only thing there is to assume is that the Internet is a public resource and anything you publish there is fully public unless you have a very good, verifiable, evidence-based reason to believe otherwise. It's that simple.
  
  --
  It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
21. Re:Nothing new by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 13:37 · Score: 0
  
  Eddie Izzard: What is this? The Death Star! What does it do? It does death!
22. Re:Nothing new by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 13:52 · Score: 1, Interesting
  
  A good point, and if we're talking about Facebook, Twitter, and other forums for broadcasting one's own vanity or stupidity, that's one thing. Stuff like Streetview is not exactly voluntary, though. Neither is the publication of volumes of government records about individuals, which were nice and relatively harmless locked up in filing cabintes or on microfilm due to difficulty of access, but which provide a treasure trove of information when published online. It's not just about what people choose to publish online, otherwise I'd say let the stupid be stupid. However, you CAN be targeted by online searches these days without doing anything, and in fact without ever having used the Internet at all. Old news to be sure, but sometimes it takes a while for chickens to come home to roost.
23. Re:Nothing new by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 13:57 · Score: 1
  
  rob someone's house while they are at a funeral?
  
  Never underestimate what some sick fuck will stoop to when he needs some cash.
24. Re:Nothing new by Sulphur · 2010-09-12 14:13 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  If you don't go to their funerals, then they will not come to yours.
25. Re:Nothing new by syousef · 2010-09-12 14:57 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Funeral notices are the classic... what close family members don't go to the funeral?
  Clearly you've never met my family.
  
  --
  These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
26. Re:Nothing new by frehe · 2010-09-12 15:22 · Score: 1
  
  You can have my guns when I get to lick the dog food from your cold dead fingers!
27. Re:Nothing new by frehe · 2010-09-12 15:30 · Score: 1
  
  Crowbars, ski masks and sneakers are gifts for burgling too...
  Don't forget to bring the black and white striped shirt, and the sack marked "SWAG".
28. Re:Nothing new by Legion303 · 2010-09-12 15:41 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  "Funny how the cops never seem to think of going to the local magnetic-decals-of-cable-companies shop and asking questions, isn't it?"
  It's a conspiracy.
29. Re:Nothing new by Bungie · 2010-09-12 17:36 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah maybe that happened in the 80's but this is 2010. In my area (of s major Canadian city) theives don't ever bother with such elaborate plans involving magnetic decals or finding when people are out. It's pretty common for them just kick in the door. If anyone is home they hold them at gunpoint or lock them in a room. Then they just take what they want from the house and load it into a stolen truck. It seriously happens more than you'd believe.
  
  --
  The clash of honour calls, to stand when others fall.
30. Re:Nothing new by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 17:55 · Score: 0
  
  This was foretold years ago!
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TM8ol1qkqQ
31. Re:Nothing new by arivanov · 2010-09-12 18:14 · Score: 1
  
  Wrong analogy.
  It is no different from your kid saying that he is going somewhere in the schoolyard. My neighbour two houses down the street from me had that one happen to him a couple of months back. His kid was overly talkative about their vacation plans.
  
  --
  Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
  http://www.sigsegv.cx/
32. Re:Nothing new by SheeEttin · 2010-09-12 18:17 · Score: 1
  
  "She ain't comin' to mine, I ain't goin' t' hers."
33. Re:Nothing new by Loualbano2 · 2010-09-12 19:06 · Score: 0, Flamebait
  
  This is 'insightful'? It's 'insightful' to stereotype and emasculate now?
  Why is it that anytime anyone around here talks about guns or fast/expensive/nice/old automobiles someone trots out the old 'penis enhancement' crap?
  This bullshit is right up there with 'No girls on the internet' and 'virgin nerd in mom's basement' things that people USED TO say in a semi-serious manner. Now these things are used as jokes simply because they are so dumb.
  The medicine cabinet full of Viagra is fairly new though. So not only does this person have a little penis it doesn't even work properly? All because he has a shotgun?
  Hell, this crap is even spouted when people talk about spending money on a fast computer. One would think that talking about building a fast machine would be safe here on this site, but nope, someone usually talks shit about someone's dick.
  Here's a clue to you and everyone like you. It is possible, and probable, to like things based on factors having NOTHING to do with anyone's penis. I understand that the concept of liking shit without penile influence is pure insanity, but believe me, it happens.
  I submit that the people who perpetuate this crap are the people with the small dick. Or maybe they just ARE dicks. I don't know, I can't keep it straight. I will just assume both.
  Ha ha, "I can't keep it straight". Perhaps the GP will let me have some of those boner pills?
  Since I disagree with you, it is probable that I have a small dick as well. I probably like stuff that you probably don't care for so there's another indicator. Even worse, I like big guns and tough cars, so the likelihood of even detecting my dick is sparse. Since I am being an ass in this comment one can also assume that not even Viagra works for my useless pecker. My penis is fucking hopeless.
  TL;DR
  Fuck you and fuck your object based stereotyping and emasculation.
34. Re:Nothing new by MobileTatsu-NJG · 2010-09-12 19:30 · Score: 1
  
  All the NRA sticker means is that you have easy to pawn manhood enhancement in the closet, and Viagra in the bathroom medicine cabinet.
  That's not enough to discourage you from breaking and entering?!
  
  --
  
  "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
35. Re:Nothing new by MobileTatsu-NJG · 2010-09-12 19:34 · Score: 1
  
  I think this is another "but somehow it's different because a computer was involved!" type of issue.
  I'll take it. Anything that gets people to raise the awareness of what they post on sites like Facebook. I'm just waiting for the day one of my family members publicly posts their address or phone number without thinking.
  
  --
  
  "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
36. Re:Nothing new by L4t3r4lu5 · 2010-09-12 19:53 · Score: 1
  
  No, it's just the cops who showed up had magnetic decals to make their regular car look like a cop car. They're accomplices.
  
  Hey, I suppose you're right...
  
  --
  Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
37. Re:Nothing new by ArsenneLupin · 2010-09-12 20:02 · Score: 1
  
  Until your facebooks says you are at the vet.
  With all his dogs? I'm sure when he takes his chihuahua to the vet, the pit bull and the rottweiler still stay home :-)
38. Re:Nothing new by ArsenneLupin · 2010-09-12 20:06 · Score: 1
  
  Weddings too.
39. Re:Nothing new by JustOK · 2010-09-12 20:42 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  yah, but they get into the liquor when left alone so they're no use.
  
  --
  rewriting history since 2109
40. Re:Nothing new by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 21:09 · Score: 0
  
  My penis is fucking hopeless.
  that's what SHE said.
41. Re:Nothing new by clickety6 · 2010-09-12 21:22 · Score: 1
  
  I think this is another "but somehow it's different because a computer was involved!" type of issue.
  A computer was involved? Quick - patent the method!
  
  --
  ----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
42. Re:Nothing new by daveime · 2010-09-12 21:34 · Score: 0, Redundant
  
  Wow, displacement behaviour much ?
  Someone makes an admittedly poor joke about guns and dick size, and you go off the fucking deep end. If you have some personal problems, then perhaps you shouldn't react so violently when someone raises the topic (even in jest), Pencil Pecker.
43. Re:Nothing new by xaxa · 2010-09-12 22:06 · Score: 1
  
  It hardly happens at all in the UK. It's one reason we like our anti-gun laws the way they are :-)
  (Burglars here presumably make some effort to see that the house is empty, then kick a door in. If there's someone in the house they'll probably -- though not always -- flee. "Aggrevated burglary" has a much harsher sentence, and there are lots more houses.)
44. Re:Nothing new by Loualbano2 · 2010-09-12 23:52 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  No, not displacement behavior.
  Admittedly I was harsh, and overly so. I wouldn't normally say anything, but I guess not today.
  The problem is, I don't see the inadequate dick thing as a joke anymore, because it's what a lot of people think, and they are serious about it. It happens on the web and in real life. I personally have been and seen other men accused of having a small pecker in casual conversation, mostly by women, when talking about traditionally masculine things like the aforementioned fast cars and firearms. I know girls that swear up and down they can tell a man's size by his car and other things like that. Most girls will tell you the same thing about a guy who has a lot of muscles. On the other hand, if I decide a girl's a slut based off her clothes, I'm an asshole even if I am right.
  Even more aggravating are other men who subscribe to the same compensation rhetoric, basically selling themselves out.
  Also, emasculation in general seems to be accepted by the general public as perfectly fine. If I was to liken too many shoes to insecurity of women, or something along those lines, I would be skewered. If my friends wife wears too much make up, and as a 'joke' I said she looks like a hooker, hell would break loose, and rightly so. If that same women made a 'joke' about my dick in any fashion it's not only perfectly acceptable, but I have to sit and take it, otherwise be accused of proving that she is right.
  I'm not going to sit and take it anymore. From now on I am going to call people on it because it's a stereotype that needs to die. It's fucked up that men can't enjoy certain stuff without being accused of 'compensating'.
  Not everything is about dicks, that's the point I was trying to make.
45. Re:Nothing new by Lumpy · 2010-09-13 00:02 · Score: 1
  
  Want to discourage 95% of all idiots that rob homes? go on Ebay and buy ADT stickers and Signs. install them.
  TADA! They will move on to a easier target just by driving by and looking at the house.
  Also what kind of idiots are posting their location PUBLICALLY? What nimrod has his profile visible to anyone but friends?
  
  --
  Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
46. Re:Nothing new by Lumpy · 2010-09-13 00:04 · Score: 0
  
  I love that. anyone that is a NRA member knows to lock up firearms. Obviously the poster is a complete idiot and knows nothing about guns. P.S. they ain't easy to pawn either.
  
  --
  Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
47. Re:Nothing new by oodaloop · 2010-09-13 00:06 · Score: 1
  
  You must be good with that shotgun to be able to kill burglars in your kitchen when you're not even home.
  
  --
  Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
48. Re:Nothing new by bsDaemon · 2010-09-13 00:58 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Most pawn shops, at least where I'm from have an FFL (Federal Firearms License, the stamp they need to sell guns as a business), but private sales are perfectly legal and don't require the seller to do a background check on the buyer. Plus, all sales records at the store and with the state police are destroyed after 30 days (or are supposed to be) in accordance with state law. But yeah, if you're in Massachusetts, probably not so easy.
49. Re:Nothing new by Fujisawa+Sensei · 2010-09-13 02:12 · Score: 1
  
  Funeral notices are the classic... what close family members don't go to the funeral?
  That's why you have a family member,not immediate family of the deceased, or a trusted friend watching the house during a funeral.
  
  --
  If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
50. Re:Nothing new by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-13 02:42 · Score: 0
  
  and then, use the county appraiser's website, get property value, floor plan, etc.....
  The information, it just wants to be free.
51. Re:Nothing new by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-13 02:44 · Score: 0
  
  If you don't go to their funerals, then they will not come to yours.
  Clearly you've never met my family.
52. Re:Nothing new by publiclurker · 2010-09-13 02:49 · Score: 0, Troll
  
  Well, I'd say trade in at you local crack house, but when people like you have their lack of manhood exposed to the world, you really aren't interested in reality, so why don't you just polish your piece in the bathroom and let the adults go on with their lives.
53. Re:Nothing new by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-13 02:49 · Score: 0
  
  In many places, there is a tradition of friends/churchmembers offering to watch the house while family goes to the funeral, specifically because thieves read obituaries.
54. Re:Nothing new by operagost · 2010-09-13 04:03 · Score: 1
  
  I know girls that swear up and down they can tell a man's size by his car and other things like that.
  
  Jay Leno must have many penises.
  
  --
  
  Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
55. Re:Nothing new by operagost · 2010-09-13 04:10 · Score: 1
  
  As of 2007, the UK has the world's highest per capita of violent crime. This is despite the fact that they don't seem to think violence against children matters-- they don't report robberies against children under 16.
  
  --
  
  Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
56. Re:Nothing new by xaxa · 2010-09-13 04:48 · Score: 1
  
  I'm generally suspicious of comparing countries in this way. In the UK "assault" includes intentionally touching someone against their wishes. In many other countries, injury (or intent to injure) is required.
  However, I don't want to defend the UK either, since there are clearly social problems, like terrible class divisions and a general antipathy towards children and teenagers.
  If you haven't seen it, watch Kidulthood. Apart from being in a single day, I don't think it's an unreasonable sequence of events. I don't trust the current government to try and solve the problems though: almost everyone affected in that film is poor, and the problems/violence stay almost entirely within the community.
57. Re:Nothing new by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-13 07:47 · Score: 0
  
  Oh come on, both of you, it's not the same thing at all. I can't believe Slashdot readers would miss the scaling power of technology.
  So you wanna rob some unoccupied homes. How do you know someone's mail/newspapers are stacking up? (Oh, and first you have to find dead-tree newspaper subscribers...) You have to drive around the city slowly enough to see every porch. How do you know their lights are out because they're out of town and not because they'll be home in 15 minutes? How many nights to you have to survey homes physically to obtain this information? Now, how long is it going to take you to locate five good marks?
  Would you rather do that, or would you rather sit on your sofa and run a search on public Facebook/Twitter accounts and turn up 320 local targets in 15 seconds?
58. Re:Nothing new by grrrl · 2010-09-13 19:28 · Score: 1
  
  "Anything that gets people to raise the awareness of what they post on sites like Facebook. I'm just waiting for the day one of my family members publicly posts their address or phone number without thinking."
  And that's different to your address and phone number (including mobiles if you choose) appearing in the phone book that everyone has a copy of IN THEIR HOUSE (or available on the internet)?
  I don't disagree with keeping all such info separate, but it's not really difficult for someone who wants to find out about you doing so.
59. Re:Nothing new by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-14 04:55 · Score: 0
  
  will there be food there?
60. Re:Nothing new by MobileTatsu-NJG · 2010-09-14 06:24 · Score: 1
  
  And that's different to your address and phone number (including mobiles if you choose) appearing in the phone book that everyone has a copy of IN THEIR HOUSE (or available on the internet)?
  Yes. The names in that phone book are not as easy to link to me. (Never mind that I do not have my name in any phone books.)
  
  I don't disagree with keeping all such info separate, but it's not really difficult for someone who wants to find out about you doing so.
  The amount of energy spent finding that information is a factor. Attracting people towards that information is a factor. Actually.. being a 'grrl' you should already understand that.
  
  --
  
  "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
61. Re:Nothing new by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-19 11:07 · Score: 0
  
  Headline might as well be 'Bad Things Happen To Those Who Make Dumb Choices'
  I think this is another "but somehow it's different because a computer was involved!" type of issue.
  You've nailed it! It's the computers! Put them in jail before they can become Skynet
Hang on.. by click2005 · 2010-09-12 09:25 · Score: 0

Didn't someone already create a webpage called PleaseRobMe or something like that
using people's social networking locations?

--
I am a free slashdotter. I will not be modded, blogged, DRM'd, patented, podcasted or RFID'd. My life is my own.
1. Re:Hang on.. by blai · 2010-09-12 09:26 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  But PleaseRobMe is down...
  
  --
  In soviet Russia, God creates you!
2. Re:Hang on.. by sentientbeing · 2010-09-12 09:29 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  The burglary ring were captured after being identified using fireworks they had previously stolen from a property. Police were reported to say "We blew open the case after an explosion of similar burglaries. One suspect was let off"
  
  --
  
  ------
  beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his mind he dreams himself your master
3. Re:Hang on.. by krray · 2010-09-12 10:55 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  http://youropenbook.org/ is still very much up. Look up "vacation" and be amazed. Found a guy on there the other day letting everyone know he was going to Disney World for the next 11 days. He lived in NH and had a listed phone number...
4. Re:Hang on.. by Larry+Lightbulb · 2010-09-12 16:03 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  A friend and I went to a fancy dress party - I was dressed as a firework, my friend as a battery. On the way we were stopped by the police - they let me off, but my friend was charged.
5. Re:Hang on.. by a_hanso · 2010-09-12 16:12 · Score: 1
  
  was he charged with battery?
6. Re:Hang on.. by daveime · 2010-09-12 21:39 · Score: 1
  
  Good job he wasn't carrying a salt shaker, then it would have been "a salt and battery".
7. Re:Hang on.. by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-13 05:35 · Score: 0
  
  Luckily you didn't go as sodium chloride or potassium chloride then you would both be in a heap of trouble, unless they treat a salt and battery different where you live.
8. Re:Hang on.. by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-13 10:00 · Score: 0
  
  (reposting your joke with a few minor tweaks)
  --
  A friend and I went to a costume party. I was dressed as a firework, my friend as a battery. On the way we were stopped by the police. They set me off but only my friend was charged.
  --
  I suppose they used a taser to charge your friend.
Not Places by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 09:26 · Score: 5, Informative

They looked for status messages saying people were on vacation. A bit different from using Places.
1. Re:Not Places by TheRedDuke · 2010-09-12 10:04 · Score: 1
  
  But now, thanks to Places and the idiots that use it, burgling is easier than ever!
enough of this! by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 09:29 · Score: 0, Troll

It's the chavs and the immigrants!
hmm by nomadic · 2010-09-12 09:31 · Score: 5, Funny

Or, alternately, don't add burglars as facebook friends.
1. Re:hmm by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 09:43 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  and mind your privacy settings regarding "Everyone."
2. Re:hmm by jroysdon · 2010-09-12 10:55 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Yeah, because that is so easy to predict.
  Here's the thing, when you have kids, you end up friending a ton of people you know marginally. You also find out a lot of things that you can have talks with your kids about (not mentioning any names in those talks, just bring up the topic in general... "hey, what would you do if you found out some of your friends did such and such?").
  My kids don't have Facebook accounts, but most of their IRL friends at school and church do.
  But I think this shows that you shouldn't put anything online that you don't want to put right in front of your house. Don't put up a flier "gone out of town 3 weeks" on your front door and don't put it on Facebook either. Share the photos when you get back.
  Sounds like a good topic for me and my family to talk about at dinner tonight.
3. Re:hmm by causality · 2010-09-12 13:21 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, because that is so easy to predict.
  Here's the thing, when you have kids, you end up friending a ton of people you know marginally. You also find out a lot of things that you can have talks with your kids about (not mentioning any names in those talks, just bring up the topic in general... "hey, what would you do if you found out some of your friends did such and such?").
  My kids don't have Facebook accounts, but most of their IRL friends at school and church do.
  But I think this shows that you shouldn't put anything online that you don't want to put right in front of your house. Don't put up a flier "gone out of town 3 weeks" on your front door and don't put it on Facebook either. Share the photos when you get back.
  Sounds like a good topic for me and my family to talk about at dinner tonight.
  If you have been a good model and example to your family of common sense and instilled the same virtue in them, gently and patiently but unambiguously correcting any failures to apply it, then any specific talk about this particular subject would be redundant.
  
  If you've failed to uphold that standard then the very best you could do is a list of "dos and dont's". That list might or might not include potential perils of using Facebook but anything you leave out of that list would remain a vulnerability from a security standpoint.
  
  Better to be acquainted with the true principle than worry about the infinite variations of possible instances of it.
  
  --
  It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
4. Re:hmm by jroysdon · 2010-09-12 18:44 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  It's not anywhere near as straight-forward as that. Furthermore, peer pressure is difficult even with the best parenting.
5. Re:hmm by Spacezilla · 2010-09-12 19:02 · Score: 1
  
  Here's the thing, when you have kids, you end up friending a ton of people you know marginally.
  I have a six year old son myself and my friends on facebook are still, well, my friends. I believe that's why they call it "friends", not "people you kinda met once, but don't really know". I can honestly say that I don't have a single friend on facebook that I wouldn't trust with a key to my apartment, so I certainly don't mind any of them knowing if I'm going on vacation. Then again, I only have like 10 friends on facebook, including my closest family (mother, father and sister).
6. Re:hmm by NuShrike · 2010-09-12 19:25 · Score: 1
  
  How about this, don't friend people you don't really know then. QED.
  Alternatively, use Facebook's filtering, and stop being a pithy twit giving up info about yourself; whatever happens, it's self-inflicted. Most robberies are by people you know.
7. Re:hmm by JourneymanMereel · 2010-09-13 01:32 · Score: 1
  
  Personally, I make extensive use of Friend Lists. I have a list for friends from High School (10+ yrs ago), a list for people from my church... one for my family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc)... on for my wife's family... one for immediate family.... one for close friends and people I have some basic trust in... and one for people I don't know at all but added to gain some advantage in a FB game. My default postings are only visible to immediate family and close friends only. This includes anything from Gowalla and Foursquare. When I'm posting something, I have to make a conscious decision about if I want to share that information with more than just that small group. It has resulted in instances where I posted something to the small group and had to delete it and repost so I could expand the visibility, but it has never resulted in my accidentally posting something that I'd rather not have seen by high school acquaintances I haven't seen in more than 10 years or the more questionable members of my extended family.
  Of course very few people actually go through that much trouble. Most think they're doing pretty good if they set their default post privacy to "friends only"... which is better than "Everybody", for sure, but still assumes you can trust everybody on your friend list.
  
  --
  Life has many choices. Eternity has two. What's yours?
8. Re:hmm by causality · 2010-09-13 03:22 · Score: 1
  
  It's not anywhere near as straight-forward as that. Furthermore, peer pressure is difficult even with the best parenting.
  That's only true when you pressure your children to behave (for example, getting upset and intimidating them into "being good" instead of correcting and instructing them with calm but unyielding authority). That teaches them to respond to pressure and that this is normal. Then when someone else comes along who also knows how to pressure them, you have this tug-of-war that you very well may end up losing since you can't be there all the time to counter every bad influence.
  
  It is as straightforward as that, unless you are merely an older, wiser, bigger source of pressure applying the same mechanic as the peers. Nearly everyone is, to the point that few can imagine any other way to do things.
  
  --
  It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
9. Re:hmm by david_thornley · 2010-09-13 04:01 · Score: 1
  
  If you think anything in child rearing is "as straightforward as that", you have no real knowledge of children or raising them, and I can't take anything you say seriously. The best you can possibly say is that whatever you did worked for your kid(s).
  
  --
  "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
10. Re:hmm by Hognoxious · 2010-09-13 05:56 · Score: 1
  
  > Most robberies are by people you know.
  [[citation needed]]
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
11. Re:hmm by psithurism · 2010-09-13 08:43 · Score: 1
  
  Or, alternately, don't add burglars as facebook friends.
  I don't think you know they are burglars until after you add them.
  Actually, just about all the burglaries that have happened to friends and family of mine are easily traceable (but not provably) to other "friends." Unfortunately, burglars tend not to list their real day job on facebook.
story summary is horseshit... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 09:36 · Score: 5, Informative

...No where in TFA was Facebook Places mentioned, just idiots who announced that they would not be at home. Looks like the submitter has an axe to grind with Places.
1. Re:story summary is horseshit... by flowwolf · 2010-09-12 11:11 · Score: 1
  
  It's not entirely horseshit: Burglars didn't use the places okay. Though there is no denying that it could be used for this means. It may even be more effective of a tool than simple status searches. The original submitter has good intentions. Your's are blinded by the hype job that is location based services right now. They are in no way a benefit to consumers, only marketers.
  
  This specific situation may not be tied to FB:Places; However, the story is a great example of how burglars today are colluding their plans using social networks. We can't pretend that FB:Places won't encourage this kind of operation in the future. Awareness of the dangers to the general public must be demonstrated immediately and effectively. If this is done through a little bit of sensationalism, then so be it. There's nothing inherently evil about a hyperbole.
Reminds me... by magsol · 2010-09-12 09:56 · Score: 4, Informative

of this app.

--
"I'd just like to emphasise that taking a million years isn't a metaphor here..." -Rich Bradshaw
Did anyone else see this? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 09:56 · Score: 1, Funny

Burger King used facebook places to find targets
Terrifying stuff.
Always change your privacy settings by lavagolemking · 2010-09-12 10:08 · Score: 1

How much do you want to bet that the victims were using Facebook's default privacy settings...
1. Re:Always change your privacy settings by causality · 2010-09-12 10:54 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  How much do you want to bet that the victims were using Facebook's default privacy settings...
  My default privacy settings are the best available because I don't use Facebook.
  
  --
  It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
2. Re:Always change your privacy settings by lavagolemking · 2010-09-12 10:59 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Neither do I, but I hear only the worst things about Facebook's default privacy settings.
3. Re:Always change your privacy settings by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 11:39 · Score: 1, Insightful
  
  So you're trashing something you don't use or understand. Nice. Very Slashdot. You and causality should suck each other off in congratulations over being too cool to use Facebook, btw.
4. Re:Always change your privacy settings by causality · 2010-09-12 11:57 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  So you're trashing something you don't use or understand.
  Actually I don't use it because I understand it. Maybe you don't know this, but you can look before you leap, you can read up on something and learn something about it before deciding whether you will engage in it.
  
  By your false logic, every non-smoker on the planet was once a smoker since they would never know why tobacco use is detrimental to health until after trying it and experiencing worse health. There's this thing called foresight that makes that unnecessary.
  
  Incidentally "trashing" is a very strange term to describe calmly and honestly discussing its disadvantages. I think you have a sore point. Apparently the idea that others might have good reasons for not doing something that you have your reasons for doing is inflammatory and offensive to you. Most of the problems in the world are caused by an inability to live and let live, which in turn is rooted in mentalities like yours. You deserve every last bit of misery it causes you.
  
  Dispute me on that if you think you can, though at this point the prudent thing for you would be to silently disappear and pretend you didn't notice my reply.
  
  --
  It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
5. Re:Always change your privacy settings by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 11:59 · Score: 0
  
  Oops. We've made fun of someone's religion.
  Here's a clue for you - I've never shot myself in the foot. But I know enough about firearms and trauma to have a good idea what would happen if I tried it.
6. Re:Always change your privacy settings by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 22:24 · Score: 1, Interesting
  
  I really liked your post, it was cool and logical. Then, I assume so you could fit in here (the Internet), you go and post the douchey paragraph at the end.
7. Re:Always change your privacy settings by causality · 2010-09-13 03:18 · Score: 1
  
  I really liked your post, it was cool and logical. Then, I assume so you could fit in here (the Internet), you go and post the douchey paragraph at the end.
  So you won't be disputing my points then?
  
  --
  It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
8. Re:Always change your privacy settings by david_thornley · 2010-09-13 03:56 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  I have very open privacy settings. I don't trust Facebook with any degree of privacy, and with my privacy settings set to, essentially, everybody, I don't have any false sense of security. I never put anything on Facebook I don't want the whole world to see (except Mom, who isn't on line), so why restrict it anyway?
  
  --
  "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
9. Re:Always change your privacy settings by hey! · 2010-09-13 05:55 · Score: 1
  
  Well, I do think that this was at least flippant, if not smug:
  
  My default privacy settings are the best available because I don't use Facebook.
  While it is indisputable that this is the best privacy scenario for *you*, you can't reasonably say that has any applicability to somebody who wants to use Facebook. It's certainly reasonable to discuss whether Facebook provides services that people really need, or question the value of the services, but still many people will come to a different conclusion than you.
  My advice on Facebook privacy controls is not to rely on them *at all*. Rather, treat everything you post there as if you were saying it on television.
  It's almost a disservice to Facebook users to give them the "friend of a friend" choice, because not everyone is sophisticated enough to understand that people have interlocking circles of friends. You might think you are releasing information to the circle you share with someone, when in fact you might be releasing it to a different circle, or to practically anyone in the case of people who friend everybody in sight. My college age nephew asked to friend me, and I said OK, and the very first thing I saw was a "hubba-hubba" comment he made on a picture a female friend of his posted of herself posing provocatively in a bikini. It was tame stuff, but she probably didn't want it popping up on her friend's middle aged uncle's news page.
  
  --
  Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Security through obscurity by DigiShaman · 2010-09-12 10:09 · Score: 2, Insightful

Regarding online safety, security through obscurity should not be overlooked. It's crap like this (and stuff in the work place) as to why I don't blab on about intimate details of my life to strangers.

--
Life is not for the lazy.
1. Re:Security through obscurity by DerekLyons · 2010-09-12 10:58 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Regarding online safety, security through obscurity should not be overlooked.
  As I've been saying here on Slashdot for years; the mantra so often chanted here ("security through obscurity is no security at all"), is dead wrong. Security professionals well know that obscurity is a valuable part of their arsenal - because an intruder or attacker cannot prepare in advance for a defensive or security measure he does not know is there.
2. Re:Security through obscurity by Legion303 · 2010-09-12 14:03 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Security through obscurity is worthless. I think what you mean is "security WITH obscurity," which is one of the levels of layered security everyone should use.
3. Re:Security through obscurity by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 14:06 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  "security through obscurity" is NOT "I have a hidden silent alarm and once they get inside there is a guard dog even though there are no signs"
  "security through obscurity" is "I can leave my doors unlocked because I live in the middle of nowhere" or "My house is unremarkable and small, nobody will think to rob me. I'll leave my doors unlocked." It's relying on the fact that your operating system or application software is nonstandard, so there are no pre-made rootkits for it. And relying on ONLY that for your security without making sure that your nonstandard software is actually secure, not just obscure.
  Those two are not quite the same thing. Of course hiding some of your defensive and security measures is a good idea. That's not what is meant by "security through obscurity is no security at all".
4. Re:Security through obscurity by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 17:23 · Score: 0
  
  You may be right, but this is Slashdot and Slashdot won't ever agree that closed source may have a few advantages which open source doesn't.
5. Re:Security through obscurity by Sycraft-fu · 2010-09-12 18:41 · Score: 1
  
  Yep. When you can't plan for it, risk goes through the roof. That's why, say, the Secret Service keeps presidential protection details a secret. It isn't because the protection is extremely weak, far from it, it is some of if not the best in the world. However it is just that much harder to get through if you don't know what all is there. Where are all the agents station? How are the armed? Who is under cover? What kind of backup do they have? What are the escape routes? If all this is known, it is easier to plan for something, even with extremely good security. However when it is all secret, well then it is pretty much impossible. Not only do you not know what to plan for, you can't even set reasonable margins of error since you just don't know what the hell you are up against.
6. Re:Security through obscurity by firewrought · 2010-09-13 03:00 · Score: 1
  the mantra so often chanted here ("security through obscurity is no security at all"), is dead wrong
  
  Slogans emphasize critical insights at the expense of supporting details, so it's not surprising that there are naive misinterpretations. And you're absolutely right... obscurity is a tool that can be used or misused. The slogan is still valid though, because it summarizes these critical observations that software makers have learned the hard way again and again:
  
  Software vendors should fix holes in their systems instead of pretending that technical difficulties will be sufficient to stop attackers. They won't be.
  Software architects need to make their systems secure-by-design instead of pretending that debuggers and packet sniffers and other such tools don't exist. They do. (As such, obscurity limits you to very narrow situations, such as generating some secret bytes and keeping them in a protected data store... a.k.a., private keys.)
  Cryptography users should use algorithms that have been scrutinized by the entire crypto-academic community instead of pretending that whoever came up with the algorithm was smart enough to understand all the mathematical traps they might have fallen into. They weren't. (I'd say that a similar argument applies to the implementations as well.)
  --
  -1, Too Many Layers Of Abstraction
7. Re:Security through obscurity by psithurism · 2010-09-13 08:48 · Score: 1
  
  Why shouldn't I share about my 150lb pit bulls on facebook? I'm very proud of them! Except of course, raising them takes so much money and effort I haven't really purchased anything else of value for my home.
  Oh, and my girlfriend just got a 4th degree blackbelt!
8. Re:Security through obscurity by mercurywoodrose · 2010-09-13 12:56 · Score: 1
  
  I want to live in a home modeled after Project Wildfire in Andromeda Strain. Maybe then ill be safe. just watch out for tweets saying "theres a fire"
  
  --
  You hear about the person who didn't rely on anecdotal evidence to support his belief system?
Privacy vs. Anonymity vs. Stupidity by R2.0 · 2010-09-12 10:19 · Score: 1

We HAVE a right to privacy - things done in private should stay there.
We THINK we have a right to anonymity - that somehow, things done in a public place or forum will not be connected with our identity.
People ACT with stupidity, when they post private information on a public forum with their identity specifically attached.
Society needs to read some Niven and Pournelle and learn what "Evolution in action means."

--
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
Facebook / Twitter location services by iONiUM · 2010-09-12 10:20 · Score: 3, Interesting

This isn't surprising to me because Facebook and Twitter apps on mobile (iPhone and android) have a "location" feature in them that always really scared me. Basically it posts your position along with your post, and people can track you..
I guess that's not directly related to this particular burglary ring, but it could be used in the same way.. or just to rob people of their phone. "Person A is at the starbucks and they clearly have an iPhone since Facebook says 'posted from my iPhone'.."
1. Re:Facebook / Twitter location services by c_forq · 2010-09-12 10:58 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  I don't understand this fear. Anyone that knows me, or follows me for even a single day, will know I'm at work 9-5 on Monday through Friday. How does posting with my location during this time change anything?
  
  --
  Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns
2. Re:Facebook / Twitter location services by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 12:51 · Score: 0
  
  It's the compilation of detail rather that /a/ detail, and it's combining these details in a way that's easy for anyone to view as much as they like, as deeply as they, without trace.
  Say for whatever reason you've come to someone's attention. They don't even have to expose themselves by following you as single day to know your working hours, where you live, you pattern of transport, and your typical hangouts. Add facebook-type social blab and they've got a quick idea of who else is in the house, including pets. And they can scope the house and neighbourhood through googlemaps.
  And most importantly, it's trivial to do a bunch of people this way, to look for the easiest pickings. You can have a kid do it for pocket-money.
  So how crime is carried out has shifted -- we need to acknowledge that. To be the least attractive target we've got to be aware and shift ourselves too. I already lock doors and windows when I go out, and I lock my car when I park it. (Didn't need to do either when & where I was a kid.) I put my wallet in a deep pocket with a buttoned top when I'm downtown in crowds. I'm careful with how I expose my credit & debit card info, and how I handle PIN and passwords. This isn't living in fear -- these are just boring basic precautions that are picked up and lived with easily. Similarly we need to shift to be less exposed to the network broadcast of our details.
3. Re:Facebook / Twitter location services by ColdGrits · 2010-09-12 21:16 · Score: 1
  
  'cos that one time you post and your location is half way round the world as you are on holiday, kinda gives a massive clue that you are not going to be round for a bit and your property ripe for a visit from the guys with the stripy jumpers.
  
  --
  People should not be afraid of their governments - Governments should be afraid of their people.
4. Re:Facebook / Twitter location services by boxwood · 2010-09-12 23:32 · Score: 1
  
  because now people that don't know you don't even have to waste their time following you around to know your routine.
practicalities by merry-v · 2010-09-12 10:22 · Score: 4, Insightful

i don't understand how the burglars were able to quickly trawl facebook to find :
a) the street addresses of the people who were on holiday, not normally stored in facebook?
b) who did not co-habit with people who were not on holiday
c) who had stuff worth stealing
d) living within easy driving distance of the burglar
e) no alarm, neighborhood watch, alert neighbours etc
f) the exact days of leaving and arriving back
burglars already have lots of ways to find a target house without data mining social networking sites, e.g. pushing flyers half-way into letter boxes then coming back in two days to see if any are still untouched, driving buy in the evening to see if lights are off etc etc.
is it possible that some of those got burgled who had posted about their holiday, and told the police "that must be the reason" ? I know TFA asserts that the police know the gang used facebook, but something does not add up here. seems like BS to me.
1. Re:practicalities by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 10:50 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  For the street address, if people use their full name in facebook and list their town, there's a good chance that you can get a correct address from the white pages. As for whether other people will be home, if they say "family vacation", that gives a good probability that every one in the house will be gone. As to the other things you pointed out (alarm, neighborhood watch, whether they have stuff worth stealing), you're correct. They probably have to case the joint in person to get that info. But at least they know they're casing a place that will be vacant on a particular day. Someone might case my house and determine I'm an excellent prospect, but if I don't go on vacation for a year then they haven't got anything.
2. Re:practicalities by Amlothi · 2010-09-12 17:09 · Score: 1
  
  See, that's the problem. You aren't thinking like a criminal.
  If you wanted to break into a house, what would YOU do? That's how you need to approach the problem. If I were going to do this (and I'm not, just hypothetically) I would:
  Use the facebook community features. You can join a community and view other people in that same town / geographic region.
  Take their name and/or phone number (yes, some people put those on their profiles) and lookup their address online.
  Browse their photos to see what they might have in their home, what their car looks like, etc.
  If their email address is public, use that to search for other websites / forums with information about them.
  Use google maps with street view to see what the building looks like, if it's a single unit home or a multi-unit complex, etc. Also, check for proximity of neighbors houses and lines of site to the property.
  Find their home phone online and call it to verify they are not home at the time you plan to rob them.
  If I look at enough people and get enough data points, it will be pretty easy to find a suitable target. Remember, I'm not saying that I will have enough info on a specific person, I'm just saying if I look at enough people I can eventually find the few "easy targets" who are too trusting about what they put online.
  
  --
  ~A~
3. Re:practicalities by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 18:59 · Score: 0
  
  Which proves the OP's point: pushing a flyer half way through a letter box is less work than what you wrote.
Paranoid much? by w0mprat · 2010-09-12 10:26 · Score: 4, Informative

Facebook places is only for iPhone and phones that support W3 geolocation, and only available via native application or touch.facebook.com. You also actually have to explicitly 'check in' / 'check out' of places.

It amazes the ammount of paranoid people turning it off believing it tracks their location whereever they log into face book. It's not even available worldwide completely.

From TFFBFAQ: "At this time, the Places application is available to users in the United States with mobile access to the Facebook application for iPhone or touch.facebook.com"

Even with places turned off, you only need to post "going to fiji for 6 weeks w00t" and everybody knows you're not home. It amazes me the number of people, especially young females who post "I'm home alone tonight and bored" - you can be sure I'm in contact with the really quickly to tell them how dangerous that is and if I they feel unsafe I could .... wait I'm going off topic...

--
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
1. Re:Paranoid much? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 11:02 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  ...especially young females who post "I'm home alone tonight and bored"
  Go on...
2. Re:Paranoid much? by Archangel+Michael · 2010-09-12 15:31 · Score: 1
  
  young females who post "I'm home alone tonight and bored"
  I read something like that and I think "phone sex" or "cheap hooker" or "easy slut". The last two I equate to "I have three to six different STDs all contagious and at least one incurable".
  No thanks
  
  --
  Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
3. Re:Paranoid much? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 15:36 · Score: 0
  
  Mark Zuckerberg, is that you?
  It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you, and it's not not paranoia to think that facebook will abuse/mess up location tracking.
4. Re:Paranoid much? by Anarchduke · 2010-09-12 16:55 · Score: 1
  
  why, you think they would get poked?
  
  --
  who prays for Satan? Who in 18 centuries has had the humanity to pray for the 1 sinner that needed it most? ~Mark Twain
5. Re:Paranoid much? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 20:11 · Score: 0
  
  young females who post "I'm home alone tonight and bored"
  I read something like that and I think "phone sex" or "cheap hooker" or "easy slut".
  'You should try competing in Jumping to Conclusions. Should easily make it to national level.
6. Re:Paranoid much? by stickystyle · 2010-09-13 01:04 · Score: 1
  
  Facebook places is only for iPhone and phones that support W3 geolocation, and only available via native application or touch.facebook.com. You also actually have to explicitly 'check in' / 'check out' of places.
  Only half correct. You state that the metaphorical 'you' has to explicitly have to 'check in' to places, but you're friends have the ability to check you into places by default. "Out having coffee with @w0mprat, having a great convo about privacy, could last hours"
  from blog.facebook.com....
  "When your friends check you in, it is as if you have checked in at that place yourself. You also will appear checked-in to your friends."
  
  --
  Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate
ads for 'please rob me' finally being answered? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 10:33 · Score: 0

it gets worse (ex. ad; single mother, 3 children), but we already know that (but it must not be stuff that really matters?). just keep it on the light (fingered) side thanks.
Silver Lining by causality · 2010-09-12 10:34 · Score: 5, Interesting

But now, thanks to Places and the idiots that use it, burgling is easier than ever!
There is a silver lining to that cloud. The more criminals are tempted to go after those who actively make themselves an easy target, the more likely it is that those with a bit of sense will be left alone. This means you now have more control than ever over whether this will happen to you. Choice is good.

--
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
1. Re:Silver Lining by Nerdfest · 2010-09-12 13:33 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  It also makes it very easy to set criminals up for a little 'self defence'. Smart law enforcement could also be doing the same sort of thing as they do with 'bait' cars in high car theft areas.
2. Re:Silver Lining by bsDaemon · 2010-09-13 01:04 · Score: 1
  
  I wonder when Chris Hansen will get in on the action?
3. Re:Silver Lining by jittles · 2010-09-13 01:11 · Score: 1
  
  There is a silver lining to that cloud. The more criminals are tempted to go after those who actively make themselves an easy target, the more likely it is that those with a bit of sense will be left alone. This means you now have more control than ever over whether this will happen to you. Choice is good.
  Just as long as that easy target isn't your teenager telling all of his/her friends that you're out of town on facebook! You can't keep track of every stupid thing your child does.
4. Re:Silver Lining by causality · 2010-09-13 03:16 · Score: 1
  
  There is a silver lining to that cloud. The more criminals are tempted to go after those who actively make themselves an easy target, the more likely it is that those with a bit of sense will be left alone. This means you now have more control than ever over whether this will happen to you. Choice is good.
  Just as long as that easy target isn't your teenager telling all of his/her friends that you're out of town on facebook! You can't keep track of every stupid thing your child does.
  Instead you can teach them better than that. Of course, that isn't compatible with the assumption that they're going to do stupid things no matter what and there's nothing you can do about it.
  
  The schools understand something quite well. The best way to make an impressionable young person into an idiot is to treat them like one.
  
  --
  It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
friend fraud by Culture20 · 2010-09-12 11:13 · Score: 1

I've noticed an increase in people claiming to be old friends on facebook lately. "rofl, u remember me." un uhn. Give me a better "how you know me" answer. Even then, my friends get a fairly empty profile.
1. Re:friend fraud by ISurfTooMuch · 2010-09-12 16:58 · Score: 1
  
  I got a friend request once from some generic profile, supposedly for an organization related to where I'm located. Looked at it, and I couldn't tell who they were or how they might have been related to me in any way. Did these clowns think I was going to friend them? Hell, I don't want some of the friends I already have, so I'm certainly not going to add more that I can't even identify.
Handing information to criminals by symbolic · 2010-09-12 11:29 · Score: 1

I know of an HOA that installed security cameras- apparently the objective was not to have them monitored by a security company, but to hand out the cameras' IP so that homeowner who knew about it could do their own security. I guess it never dawned on anyone that the cameras could be used just as easily to *commit* a crime, rather than prevent it.
A pretty comprehensive writeup... by Americano · 2010-09-12 12:21 · Score: 5, Informative

... from the Nashua Telegraph, the local newspaper for Nashua, NH. It's not yet clear how many of the burglaries were related to Facebook status updates - I've seen some news reports saying "all of them," and a few saying "only one."
I think this case could be a very good lever for getting Facebook to change default permissions to "friends only" for everything, as most of the stories are suggesting that, where there's a facebook connection, the profiles were set to the default "everybody can ready my stuff" setting.
And people wonder... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 12:23 · Score: 0

Why I tell nothing about myself online if I can possibly avoid it.
Hell I don't even want to tell my neighbors anything.
People just don't think it through by dreamchaser · 2010-09-12 12:57 · Score: 4, Insightful

I wish I had mod points to mod you up.
What many people seem to fail to see is that every single datapoint one gives out can be combined with others to often paint a far clearer picture of your life and it's details than one might think. It would actually be fairly trivial to put in a few weeks of work in order to build a list of targets ripe for the picking, if that.
1. Re:People just don't think it through by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 19:07 · Score: 0
  
  Just because something is possible, doesn't mean it happens (most buglaries are not planned, they're opportunistic).
2. Re:People just don't think it through by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-13 01:06 · Score: 0
  
  >What many people seem to fail to see is that every single datapoint one gives out can
  >be combined with others to often paint a far clearer picture of your life and it's
  >details than one might think.
  This fact is not lost on marketeers, both online and offline.
In other news by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 13:39 · Score: 0

Burglars used common sense to pick targets...
lolcats by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-12 15:56 · Score: 0

Am I the only one that read 'Burger Rings'?
Deleted Facebook account by OBeardedOne · 2010-09-12 19:17 · Score: 2, Interesting

I recently bit the bullet and deleted my FB account - I've had concerns about privacy on there from the get go. I did however start a new account using a name that is similar but not quite the same as my real name. I figure it will be hard for most people to find me that aren't in my immediate circle of trusted friends.
So, now I am starting to re-friend everyone which also has a couple of advantages. I get to say hi to a few people I haven't been in direct contact with when I drop them a new friend request and also have an excuse for dropping a bunch of people I should not have added in the first place (very old people from school I never really liked nor wanted remain friends with anyway). Further to this I can explain to a few people that ask why I deleted my account why I did so and spread the message of FB privacy issues.
Overall, I feel that at least now with a semi anonymous name/profile I am much less likely to be faced with these major privacy issues cropping up and can enjoy FB that much more.

--
ogglelog
Typical media hype by Spinland · 2010-09-12 23:20 · Score: 4, Informative

From another source, they didn't use Places at all.

"We've been in contact with the Nashua police, and they confirmed that they while they have an ongoing investigation and have already made a number of arrests, the only Facebook link was that one of those arrested had a Facebook friend who posted about leaving town in the near future (which is why they believe that home was targeted) and it had nothing to do with Facebook Places," said a Facebook spokesman in an email interview with Cnet's Caroline McCarthy.

--
"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline." - Frank Zappa
using your real name on internet by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-13 00:20 · Score: 0

using your real name on the internet is a awnfull idea.
this only can end in tears.
Go firgure by Gadgetank · 2010-09-13 01:25 · Score: 1

Sadly this was going to happen with aps like 4square coming about.
Misinformation might do the trick... by webdog314 · 2010-09-13 02:58 · Score: 1

JohnQP has checked in at Mo's Gun Emporium. - "Stocking up on some shotgun shells, then off to Jay's Alarms for even MORE motion sensors."
Obligatory by LeadSongDog · 2010-09-13 08:00 · Score: 0, Redundant

In Soviet Russia, the Facebook tells you what your plans are!

--
Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
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