“Girls Around Me” App Confirms That Foursquare Is A Terrible Idea For Women

11:12 am, March 31st | by Amy Tennery

A new iPhone app “Girls Around Me” allows you to utilize Foursquare data and find out… which “girls” are around you (hence the name). While it sounds like an app for pedophiles, it’s actually aimed at helping of-age users who are “in the mood for love, or just after a one-night stand,” with a woman. My goodness.

When you log into the app, it registers all the women (and men, actually, but “Boys Around Me” sounds a little weirder for some reason — I wonder why!) who have checked in on Foursquare in your area. And then it also shows you all their publicly shared Facebook photos.

Naturally, the interwebs have been on fire to point out how unsavory this app sounds. Business Insider called it “truly creepy.” Gawker called it “super creepy.” Yes, it’s creepy.

But did it really take this to figure out that Foursquare is kind of a sketchy proposition, especially for women?

For the uninitiated, Foursquare is an app that lets ~~burglars know the best time to stop by your home~~ you tell all your friends where you are, using your phone’s GPS. You can “check in” to different restaurants, shops, etc. For social media-inclined folks, it’s a great way to keep people in the loop on which restaurants, bars and hang outs you’re frequenting. For others, it’s one more infernal social media thing you have to keep updating every five goddamn minutes, as though you were already doing so great keeping regular on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, and whatever else it is the kids are doing these days, you popular, popular person.

I know I was half-joking about the robbery thing, but I am definitely not the first to person to realize how vulnerable Foursquare actually leaves you. Back in 2010, someone actually invented a program called “Please Rob Me,” which reminded users of “various location-based networks” (i.e., Foursquare) that everyone knows where they are all the time. The system, which recognized folks who had hooked up their Foursquare accounts to their Twitter accounts, kindly tweeted at people after they “checked in” somewhere, reminding them that “the whole world can see your location through Twitter.” Yikes.

And I hardly need to outline why this is particularly problematic for women. Do you live alone? Have you ever “checked in” to your house or apartment at the end of the day? Yep, let’s not go any further down this train of thought.

It’s worth mentioning that Foursquare includes privacy settings that allow you to control who sees your Foursquare check-ins. But many users don’t opt into those settings. And, if you really want to freak yourself out, read this 2010 Daily Beast piece relaying the story of a female media strategist who “checked in” at a restaurant and then received a threatening phone call from an anonymous man who had tracked down her exact location through the program. It reads like a horror movie — and it was instances like that which led to the ICanStalkU.com app. It operated similarly to “Please Rob Me” (and has since been shut down).

As Gawker learned, Foursquare has since shut down location access to Girls Around Me, since it’s a “violation” of the company’s policies. But you have to wonder: Was Girls Around Me doing anything you couldn’t accomplish with Foursquare to begin with? Or was it just making it easier?

TAGS: foursquare dangers | girls around me

http://www.facebook.com/charlotte.dekoning Charlotte DeKoning

Honestly, I think all the paranoid hype about location-based social media being “dangerous” is, well… completely paranoid. As long as you follow the #1 rule for all social media: Don’t be Dumb, you’re fine. Suggesting that something untoward is going to happen to you just because you check in at a restaurant and share it with your friends is, in my mind, akin to the whole “don’t wear a short skirt, because you’ll get assaulted” ridiculousness.

Yes, apps like the one you describe are creepy, and it’s good that Foursquare recognized this and shut it down, but let’s not give ourselves as women one more reason not to participate in society out of fear.
Anonymous

A lot of people ARE dumb. We impress upon people to be responsible while drinking alcohol, even create laws about it, but people are still dumb about it all the time.

I would personally say that the better analogy for this is to not walk outside alone in the dark. It’s usually perfectly okay to walk outside at night, but you should be educated about the dangers and you can make decisions about when it is or isn’t okay to walk alone at night. It’s a shame, but making places safe requires more than removing the fear of them, but also removing those that would take advantage of those in them. Until that second thing happens, these places (outside at night, or foursquare) may still not be safe places where having a bit of fear can go a long way. Or caution, or just awareness.

But, yes, Lifetime movies have paralyzed my friends from ever stepping foot outside in the dark, and I try to reassure them that it’s okay sometimes. :(
http://www.facebook.com/rickfordwebbington Rick Webb

Okay the problem with this article is here: “It’s worth mentioning that Foursquare includes privacy settings that allow you to control who sees your Foursquare check-ins. But many users don’t opt into those settings.”

That is actually an out and out lie. You have to opt OUT of those settings. Foursquare never, ever defaults towards public sharing on any of its check-ins or shares. You have to consciously, explicitly tell Foursquare that yes, for some reason, you want to publicly tweet out your location. It never encourages you to. It never makes you. It never forces you to opt-out. You even have to go into the settings and manually connect your Twitter and Facebook account. In fact, GENDER is opt-in. You don’t even have to tell it you’re a woman. Their privacy settings are safe, clear, and extensively explained.

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