The ease of access to information on social media sites has eased crime. Criminals take advantage of information posted on the sites to identify potential victims. The following is an analysis of geotagging and cybercasing as a result of the criminal use of social media.
Question 1
A classic example of exploitation on social networking sites is whereby criminals use Facebook to source for users that would be their next victims. Social media posts have simplified burglary whereby burglars, through Facebook posts, identify users that would not be at home at a particular time. Adequate personal information available online then allows burglars to plan their crimes and end up executing them.
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Question 2
Geotagging is another feature of social networking sites that allow users to add their locations to social media posts (New York Times, 2010). In geotagging, a user’s precise location is easily identified. Geotagging works by detecting the accurate position through combining geographical data on social posts and other social networking sites (New York Times, 2010). The information allows triangulation which then identifies the precise location.
Question 3
The cybercasing study by the International Computer Science Institute used three different websites to determine people’s location through online tools (Friedland & Sommer, 2010). Geotagged data on Craigslist® was used together with Google Street View® to determine exact locations of ad posters. Pictures uploaded through Twitter® were viewed using a Firefox® plugin that revealed the geographical coordinates by right-clicking on them. Finally, recent YouTube® uploads gave away the location of a person on vacation, while a search on their real name revealed their home address. The study recommended turning off the geotagging feature on their phones to protect themselves against cybercasing (Friedland & Sommer, 2010).
In conclusion, social media has provided a potential for exploitation, especially with readily available information on user posts. Geotagging is one of the features that allows precise identification of a person’s location. Cybercasing also applies geotagging in revealing a person’s location, hence the need to turn off the geotagging features on phones.
References
Friedland, G., & Sommer, R. (2010). Cybercasing the Joint: On the Privacy Implications of Geo-Tagging. International Computer Science Institute.
New York Times. (2010). Web Photo Reveal Secrets, Like Where You Live. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/technology/personaltech/12basics.html .
