Web2.0rhea means ‘higher insurance premiums’
Status: Being robbed :(
Customer Success Testimonial: Recovery is Everything
Web2.0rhea sufferers may pay a high price for their compulsive use of Twitter and Facebook, in the form of higher insurance premiums.
A witty site called PleaseRobMe.com has shown how easy it is. The site finds user profiles of users on Twitter and other social networks who’ve listed their addresses, and also indicated that they’re away from home.
Isn’t that a useful “mash-up”, at last? It certainly is for prospective burglars - so much so that comparison site Confused.com reckons insurance premiums will rise. Or at least it told us so in a press release every bit as opportunistic as the canniest burglar.
The advice offered includes the tip not to make "friends" with anyone you don't already know - a policy that could bring social networks crashing down to earth.
But from the point of view of risk assessment, it makes sense. Social networking users are more affluent - and by advertising their absence, also more negligent - than the typical policy holder. Many love to show off that they’re travelling on important business, or are at a Web 2.0 conference. Insurance premiums simply reflect risk.
Doesn’t it seems reasonable that the rest of us – who don’t inform total strangers of our every move – are rewarded with lower premiums? ®
Bootnote
PleaseRobMe was devised by Barry Borsboom, a first year media student in the Netherlands. Having achieved the desired publicity, he now wants to hand the domain over to an organisation that can publicise the dangers of witless online blathering. Don't worry, there will be another similar mashup along in a minute, perhaps with a useful search-by-postcode feature.
COMMENTS
Good
Hit those idiots in the only place they'll feel it; their wallets.
Common sense is dead and buried. Tell someone they shouldn't post real time details of their location on a public internet site and they'll simply gawp at you and go "huh?".
Not only are they mentally incapable of grasping the horrible implications of the new world they are ushering in, they actually start to feel emotionally lost when people aren't spying on them. Reality TV has done a great job conditioning people to behave in this way.
And as long as the government can point to these low-IQ flesh drones and say "THEY don't mind being spied on, so WHY do you?" we are all screwed.
or
instead of wasting thousands of pounds and years of time doing that, they could, you know, turn up when you call them?
might work, it certainly hasn't been tried yet.
There's an app for that...
now all we need is the app that geo-locates the user, finds the nearest entry on pleaserobme, links to a directions service to show the way there, and finally to streetview so you get the right house... A perfect use for the iphone you just stole...
IT infrastructure monitoring strategies
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Top 10 SIEM implementer’s checklist
Steps to Take Before Choosing a Business Continuity Partner
Enabling efficient data center monitoring
