Last Updated on: 26th October 2016, 12:15 pm
Here’s something that sounds positively scary, and another reason why I will never have a facebook. Never, ever, ever.
There is a new application for phones being produced by a Swedish company called “The Astonishing Tribe” that is being referred to as a stalker’s dream. Why is it being called that? Well, here’s why. Say I’m walking down the street and I run into someone. I could take their picture and run it through this app. The app, to be called “Recognizr”, would run out to Facebook and Twitter to see if it could find their picture. If it did, it would come back to me with not only their name, but their address and phone number!
Are you scared yet? I sure as shit am. Not only am I scared, but I have questions. Can this thing break through security locks people have put up? Say they mark all that stuff as private. Can it get in anyway? If this thing takes off, gone are the days when I can choose who gets my address and phone number. The creepy dude who just insisted on helping me cross the street could snap my picture and go look it up. Then he could show up at my door. Surprise!
My biggest question is why in christ would Joe Ordinary need easy access to all that info? I know anything designed for good can be turned evil if in the wrong hands, but what possible legitimate reason could somebody need to use this? It would be one thing if it just gave the user the person’s name. That would be mildly creepy, but not as completely and utterly violating as finding out a person’s name, address and phone number, all from the snap of a picture.
I’m afraid for our future.