There’s a great Wiki that Wired has just put together that provides the low-down on how to disable Facebook Places, a new feature of Facebook that allows you to share your “whereabouts” with your friends.
So why would you want to disable this? Besides the obvious security reasons, like how you shouldn’t be leaving your current location anywhere on your social media outlets, this new service can be used by your friends without you knowing it.
Just like they can tag your face in a photo, causing that photo to be associated with your account, your Facebook friends can tag you as being at a location, “checking you in” to a place on your behalf. The fact you’re at a location will show up on your Wall, and your friends will see your face appear on the Facebook page of that bar, restaurant or strip club under a list of “People here now.” You’ll receive a notification that you’ve been tagged (just like a photo) and you can go into Places and un-tag (un-check-in) yourself.
But if you don’t want to share your location at all, ever, with anyone, you can opt-out of Places entirely. Here’s how to turn off Places in Facebook.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add oneDiscuss in our Forum }
Great security tip, passing it on!
Eh I’m not too worried about this honestly… I use foursquare and gowalla and all those heavily and actually speak publicly on how those can benefit small business.
I get what people consider security risks but at the same time 90% of people leave their houses from 9-5 every day anyways so you know when ppl aren’t at home. And simply watching a marc for a couple of days would tell you the rest you’d ever need to know.
And just to screw off – I put it out on twitter as a game, for anybody to check me in and get me the furthest from Arizona where I’m at… In one night I made it to San Fran, NYC, Orlando and Maryland… I’m not worried about it.
ryno, there are many that use those services and they definitely have a social media benefit. From a security standpoint though they’re just a nightmare.
I agree that most people have an easily identifiable pattern that’s just as dangerous, which is why we advocate everyone needing to take more precautions. Things like varying your pattern and the use of Surveillance Detection Routes not only help those working covertly, but have plenty of carryover for civilians as well.
Thanks for the comment!