Geotracking Paranoia

An article repost hit Facebook today about the "new hidden threat" of geotagging to your children, along with a short video segment from NBC on the topic. This "news" is spreading like wildfire, so before it gets out of control, please let me intervene.

The video mentions that this concerns "unwitty" users. If you are, in fact, unwitty, here is a couple of suggestions:

1. Don't have children in the first place. You are endangering their lives every day by being unwitty.
2. Don't use technology. You clearly don't know how it works or what it does.

If you're unsure whether you're unwitty, or if you're unsure whether you should be legitimately paranoid about geotagging, here are a few questions you could ask yourself:

1. Did you know that Twitter is a public broadcast service, not a private photo gallery? If you did, you probably already knew that anyone, literally anyone, can read your posts.
2. Did you know that your photos can be geotagged, and that you can turn that feature on or off at the time of your post?
3. Can you put two and two together, and figure out that if you publicly post geotagged photos, everyone, and I mean everyone, will know exactly when and where the photo was taken?
4. Did you know that even if your posts are completely private, the sites you're posting to still have full access to everything you're posting, and that all of that information can be released if subpoenaed by the government?

If you already knew all of that, there is one more question you need to ask yourself:

1. Does the ability to plot data points on a map scare you?

If yes, you should put at least ten locks on your front door, at least fifteen on the back, board your windows shut, and hire at least two armed bodyguards to stay with you at all times, and also one bodyguard per child to stay with them.

If not, go on about living your life. Your children are safe as long as you're not being a dumbass.