This Creepy App Isn’t Just Stalking Women Without Their Knowledge, It’s A Wake-Up Call About Facebook Privacy [Update. This app is meant to all be in good fun, but it's potentially a weapon in the hands of stalkers. “Boy, you sure have a lot of apps on your phone.” “Well, it’s my job.” “What’s your favorite?” “Oh, I couldn’t choose. But hey, want to see one to set your skin crawling?”
It was the flush end of a pleasurably hot day — 85 degrees in March — and we were all sipping bitter cocktails out in my friend’s backyard, which was both his smoking room, beer garden, viticetum, opossum parlor and barbecue pit. I was enjoying the warm dusk with a group of six of my best friends, all of whom seemed interested, except for my girlfriend… who immediately grimaced. “Girls Around Me?
She turned to our friends, apologetically. “He’s become obsessed with this app. I sputtered, I nevered, and I denied it, but it was true. It’s an app that can be interpreted many ways. And more than anything, it’s a wake-up call about privacy. The splash screen elicited laughter all around. “Wait… what? “Oh, no,” I replied. “Not at all. Why Foursquare Really Killed Creepy Stalking App ‘Girls Around Me’ Foursquare doesn't ever want you thinking about not doing this.
That's why you definitely should. When we broke the story on Friday about Girls Around Me — an iOS app by Russian-based app developer i-Free that allowed users to stalk women in thee neighborhood without those women’s knowledge, right down to their most personal details — Foursquare was quick to respond within hours, cutting off the API access that the app relied upon to function.
Foursquare’s swift response to the issue effectively killed Girls Around Me, and i-Free quickly yanked the app from the App Store in the aftermath until they could figure out a way to restore service. And for a lot of people, the story ended there. The app’s gone. Why keep talking about it? That’s exactly the way Foursquare (and Facebook) wants things.
If there was one thing in Foursquare’s eyes that Girls Around Me was guilty of, it wasn’t tracking women and getting information about them without their consent. Wrong. Got that? Amazing. ‘Girls Around Me’ Dev: Our App’s Not For Stalking Women, It’s For Avoiding The Ugly Ones [Exclusive Interview. Cult of Mac interviews Girls Around Me developer i-Free about the controversy surrounding their app. Last week, we stirred up a maelstrom of controversy when we posted about Girls Around Me, an iOS app that allowed you to locate and view publicly available information on women in any area. Since we posted the story, over half a million people have come to our site to read about the app, over 65,000 people have shared it on Facebook, and leading publications at home and abroad have followed our lead in reporting on the app, which we described as not just as a potential tool for rapists and stalkers that was putting thousands of women at risk without their knowledge, but a wake-up called about privacy.
Girls Around Me has since been pulled from the iTunes App Store, but considering we were the ones who stirred up so much trouble for the app’s Russian-based developer, i-Free, I thought we would reach out and give them the opportunity to set the record straight. Girls Around Me Dev: We Didn’t Do Anything Wrong [Statement. Girls Around Me dev i-Free says the app isn't meant to allow creeps to stalk girls. That's not what the app's website says. When the creepy girl stalking app Girls Around Me went missing from the iTunes App Store last night, it wasn’t immediately clear who had pulled it: Russia-based i-Free, the developer behind the app, or Apple itself. Now i-Free has clarified matters. They pulled the app themselves… but not because they think they did anything wrong. In fact, they’ve gone as far as to say that it is “unethical to pick a scapegoat to talk about the privacy concerns. We see this wave of negative as a serious misunderstanding of the app’s goals, purpose, abilities and restrictions.”
Oh really? In my original report, I was extremely cautious about vilifying i-Free an Girls Around Me. Even so, though, it’s hard to get on board a response that says the app’s “goals [and] purpose” had been misinterpreted. In the mood for love, or just after a one-night stand? I-Free also says: I’m sorry, what? This Creepy App Isn’t Just Stalking Women Without Their Knowledge, It’s A Wake-Up Call About Facebook Privacy [Update.