Recent fuss about Foursquare advertising empty houses, largely occasioned by satirical start-up PleaseRobMe, seems to rather miss the point that the burglary industry is collapsing because the resale value of the things lying around at homes is close to zero. Especially compared to the iPods, watches, credit cards, PSPs etc we carry around everywhere as a matter of course, so mugging rather than burglary is now the career du jour for at least the larger and more naturally menacing representatives of Britain's unemployable urban underclass.
Which means that PleaseRobMe tells potential criminals...what, exactly? That I'm somewhere indoors with wifi and my various personal effects are safe from casual predation? I feel so violated. In the meantime, I hope they are encouraged by all this private data I'm so carelessly broadcasting to pop round my empty house and take away 20 quid's worth of DVD player, just so long as I don't have to bump into them down any dark alleys.
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