tagged w/ Stalking
-
Well, this is scary. Researchers have created software that uses public information to ID basically anybody just walking down the street. Stalkers, rejoice. Everyone else, time to find a comfortable mask that you'll never take off.
Using facial recognition software and database made of publicly accessible photos (profile photos from Facebook and LinkedIn that don't even require logging in to view, for example), researchers from Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University set up on a busy college campus and snapped pictures of willing passers by.
They were able to positively identify a 31 percent of these strangers in seconds. They used the same database of photos and were able to cross-reference those faces with faces in other databases—namely those anonymous dating sites (where users use pseudonyms to protect their privacy). It worked again. In fact, they were able to positively identify 10 percent of the dating site's members.
In other words, you could be walking down the street or sitting in a bar, and some creep could surreptitiously take your picture, and with that info alone, he/she could find out your name, where you work, whether you're single, and a whole lot more. The scary thing is that the results are not coming through one service that can be shut down, it's aggregated from your public information. They have a proof of concept working in a mobile device, and while the tech is somewhat nascent right now, it is rapid improving, which means it could rapidly become more dangerous. After all, you can change your name and ID numbers, but changing your face—which is publicly viewable every time you go outside and is a unique identifier—is much, much harder.
A short FAQ of the study's findings can be found here, and it makes for some interesting, if unsettling, reading. http://www.heinz.cmu.edu/~acquisti/face-recognition-study-FAQ/
http://gizmodo.com/5828282/your-facebook-photos-can-identify-you-in-real-lifeWell, this is scary. Researchers have created software that uses public information to... more
-
-
-
-
gdebd
-
added this
-
10 months ago
- |
-
Folks, this is what you get when religious wackadoodles are allowed to promote so many things that are contrary to American way of life as defined in the Consitution and upheld by the Supreme Court. You cannot post comments freely on the original article there, but please feel free to leave your opinion here - unfettered.
~~~!~~~~~
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A jury found a North Carolina preacher guilty of stalking a Charlotte abortion doctor after passing out hundreds of "wanted" posters with the physician's name and photo on it.
Jurors deliberated about 90 minutes Friday before finding Rev. Phillip "Flip" Benham, director of Concord-based Operation Save America, guilty of misdemeanor stalking, The Charlotte Observer reported.
Benham, 62, was sentenced to 18 months of probation and ordered to stop any intimidating behaviors.
"I can't speak. I can't get within 500 feet," Benham said outside court, holding his Bible. "They've stolen from innocent babies a voice that has spoken for them."
Prosecutors said Benham distributed photos with the names and photos of several Charlotte doctors who perform abortions and the words "Wanted ... By Christ, to Stop Killing Babies."
Benham knew that doctors in other places had been killed after similar posters were made, Assistant District Attorney Kristen Northrup said.
"What would a reasonable person think if they saw `Wanted' on a poster with their picture on it?" Northrup said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/02/phillip-flip-benham-guilty-stalking-abortion-doctor_n_889273.html/Folks, this is what you get when religious wackadoodles are allowed to promote so many... more
-
-
Imzadi
-
added this
-
11 months ago
- |
-
So she’s heard that an ex of hers is happily married. And what does she do? She turns up uninvited on his doorstep in the hope that he’ll be able to tell from her face that she’s not over him. (It’s not clear what she does with her face to try to achieve this, but we can assume fake eyelashes are involved.)
She is then taken aback by how withdrawn he appears. (Again it’s not clear if this is his reaction to a crazy ex turning up out of the blue or the huge eyelashes. Probably both, in any instance you can hardly blame the guy.)
She resolves; ‘Never mind, I’ll find someone like you’ (she certainly knows how to make a guy feel special) before adding that she wishes nothing but the best for him. Ah, that must be why on hearing how happy he was she decided it was time to remind him of her face; To make his life even better. I get it now.
http://www.deathtoglamour.com/cat/3-blogs/articles/593-the-lyrics-of-adele’s-someone-like-you-are-disturbingSo she’s heard that an ex of hers is happily married. And what does she do? She... more
-
-
ezzye
-
added this
-
1 year ago
- |
-
-
-
NYFA1
-
added this
-
1 year ago
- |
-
Google today made its Latitude iPhone app official and live on the app store. Google initially launched Latitude in early 2009 which ...
http://bit.ly/hr3A0MGoogle today made its Latitude iPhone app official and live on the app store. Google... more
-
-
Ever been stalked by some nutter you gave your number to on some online dating site or in a bar after a few too many? Yes, I thought so, who hasn't really...Well good news, a new service called losemynumber.co.uk has just been launched and it allows you to create a temporary number for your mobile - which diverts to your current phone - which you can hand out to strangers, safe in the knowledge they don't know what your actual number is. And your new mate/date turns out to be a freak you merely shut down that number, create a fresh one and hand that out to your next new dates or friends.
The service is free to sign up to, but people who call the "fake" number are charget 50p a minute from a BT landline. So instead of just hanging upon your old stalker you can milk them for what their worth, or just check that you new hot date of Guardian Soulmate doesn't seem too weird before you meet irl.
The patented service was created by Gill Kamel, a 52-year-old woman from Lancashire, who came up with the idea after her divorcee friends told her horror stalker stories about online dating gone wrong. "Internet dating and social networking is a fantastic new way for people to reach out and make new friends - but there are always people out there who are not all they seem and we take so much on trust," she said."Hopefully Lose My Number will give people more confidence, feeling safe in the knowledge they are not letting their guard down too much," she added.
The service is the first of it's kind in the UK and Mrs Kamel is tipped to become a multi millionare from it's success - and she plans to expand it to the rest of Europe and the US.
Ever been stalked by some nutter you gave your number to on some online dating site... more
-
-
Even with the ability to block annoyance users online, little is known about the full extent of cyperstalking online which could mean victims are stuck.
A British Crime Survey says 1 million women and 900,000 men are stalked every year in the UK, but it is only now that cyperstalking will be researched. They're looking to find online victims of harassment, threatening emails/chatroom/social sites and stalking.
The official website for the survey can be found here: http://www.nssadvice.org/survey
"I was stalked by an ex-girlfriend. The stalking consisted of endless abusive texts and e-mails. When I eventually managed to block her she then turned her attention to my ex-wife, girlfriend, ex-girlfriends. Usually she'd contact them by text telling them to keep away from me. Then she'd create false profiles on Facebook to contact friends, or she'd create Hotmail accounts using names of people I knew to contact me, with the usual tirade of abuse in the e-mail. I reported her to the police on three occasions but she was let off with a warning. The woman turned out to be bi-polar and had a history of this behaviour. "-BBCEven with the ability to block annoyance users online, little is known about the full... more
-
-
Concerned about the security of your personal information on the internet? We all are, and thanks to Mark Zuckerberg, we’re more concerned than ever before. While having your Facebook profile show up in search engines for anyone talented enough to Google your name may be worrisome, it’s far from the worst case scenario. What if there was a website that pulled data from all of your social networking profiles, from Twitter to Flickr, and put it on display for anyone with curious eyes to see?
I hate to break it to you, but there is… introducing… Spokeo!
What Is A Spokeo?
Founded by a team of Stanford alumni in 2006, Spokeo didn’t start out pure evil. The original vision for Spokeo.com was to be a social networking aggregator, a la FriendFeed. This would allow their users to follow their friends, family, and colleagues across several social networking platforms. Nothing wrong with that, right?
Well, Spokeo’s alarming business model began to unveil shortly thereafter. Redesigning their site in 2008, Spokeo made it possible for users to import their e-mail contacts and create friend lists. At this point, it became apparent that Spokeo had more information on you than you may be comfortable with, including LinkedIn profiles, Picasa photos, and personal blog posts.
This year, Spokeo revamped their site once again, transforming into the all-knowing, data-hungry monster it is today.
How Does It Work?
Type in a name, any name, and if you’re feeling specific feel free to narrow your search by adding in a city and state. Spokeo will then pull data from its massive scraped database of personal information and provide you with every detail you did, or didn’t want to know about that person’s life. Now, if you’re skeptical, you may think that this isn’t as bad as it seems — who cares if someone can search information that people have knowingly and willingly made available across social networking websites, right? Sure, that’s a valid argument, but (and this is a big BUT) it doesn’t stop at social networking sites.
Spokeo collects information not only from online profiles, but also from government censuses, property listings, and business websites. Sure, this information is all publically accessible, but did you really fill out your census assuming that your answers would be easily searchable on the internet? The real concern here lies in the fact that all of this information is taken from different sources, stacked together, and readily displayed for the average (or not so average) person to find.
What Information Does Spokeo Provide?
So what information, exactly, does Spokeo have on you? You may not want to know the answer. Let’s start with a rundown of the “basic profile” information: name, address, phone number, age, gender, ethnicity, zodiac sign, relationship, children, occupation, education level, hobbies, and home ownership status.
Moving on, anyone who looks you up will be provided with a list of your personal interests and hobbies that include: which sports you play, what kind of books you read, your taste in music, personality traits, what type of automobiles you prefer, and what type of investments you research. Oh, and that’s just the beginning.
Searchers are then given a breakdown of your household and the people living in it. How many people are living there? What type of home do you live in? Do you have children? A fireplace? A swimming pool? How long have you been living there? What kind of neighborhood do you live in? Most importantly, how much is your home worth?
Paid Options For The Ultra-Creep
For a measly $4.95 per month, potential stalkers, convicted felons, and bitter ex-lovers can get a bit more information on you. That is, if they’re crazy enough to provide this data devouring beast with their credit card information. Fear not, though, logic isn’t among the strongest of traits in the obsessive.
So what information is disclosed when you pay off Spokeo? For starters, your “basic profile” will be expanded upon to disclose your religion, political affiliation, birthday, and spoken languages. Moving on to your “wealth” info, Spokeo provides anyone willing to pay 5 bucks with your estimated income, investments, and mortgage value. What a steal!
Next up, your average psychopath can get expanded information on your “lifestyle indicators.” I can only imagine what kind of info lies behind closed gates.
Last, but certainly not least, a paid-membership to Spokeo provides customers with detailed (“full,” as they describe it) household information. Considering the fact that the standard household info contains the number of people living in your home, whether or not your house has a fireplace, central air/heating, and/or a swimming pool, you can only imagine what information 5 dollars will get you. Blueprints of your home? A live webcam feed of your living room? Probably lots of cool stuff that any web-savvy burglar would like to know.
Oh, and let’s not forget that your basic household information indicates whether or not you have children. It can only be assumed that paying customers will be given a few more details on that aspect of your life. With all of the data Spokeo has racked up, I’d hope that they at least do a criminal background check before giving anyone with internet access and a credit card such information. My guess, however, is that they don’t.
The Accuracy Of Spokeo's Data
Now, you may be curious about the accuracy of the data and personal information that Spokeo has on file. Without question, the data available at this time is far from “perfect.” Keep in mind, though, Spokeo’s new, enhanced version just launched a couple of months back.
In any case, here are some general notes I’ve compiled on the accuracy of Spokeo’s information after a bit of research:
* Address & Phone Number: The addresses and phone numbers they have listed are very accurate, not surprising as they are pulled from the phone book.
* Photos: The photos given are not accurate in the slightest, I have no idea where these (seemingly random) photos are coming from.
* Basic Profile: Info in the basic profile information is, for the most part, accurate. The exception here is estimated home value (no, my home is not worth over a million dollars, unfortunately).
* Lifestyle & Interests: The lifestyle and interests section is somewhat accurate, I’d say around 50 percent of what they have listed on there is correct (yes, I own dogs; no, I don’t enjoy knitting).
* Household: The names and ages of household members are accurate, as well as the home description and length of residence. The estimated home value, again, is off.
* Neighborhood: Containing median income, home value, as well as age, ethnicity, and occupation distribution, the neighborhood information looks accurate in general. Not much to add here.
A Cause For Concern?
Spokeo’s large database of personal information is definitely of concern. While there are several notable inaccuracies in the info they provide at this point, it’s important to recognize that they are just getting started. Without a doubt, Spokeo will do everything in their power to make their information more precise, and more detailed.
Obviously, you don’t want random lurkers, criminals, or creeps of other varieties to have easy access to all of your personal info, but you may not want current or potential employers to have it either. Thanks to Spokeo, with as little information as your name, the outcome of your job interview may be predetermined before even stepping foot in the door. These are just some of the potential problems that a website like Spokeo can cause in your life, if you think about it, the list is nearly endless.
How do you feel about your personal information being neatly compiled and readily available on the internet?Concerned about the security of your personal information on the internet? We all are,... more
-
-
A helpline for the UK has been set up to help victims of stalking, the service is funded by the home office and private donations. It was created to tackle the estimated 2 million victims of stalking. Before the helpline it is believed that victims wouldn't report being stalked to the police because of fears they would be ignored.
"At the time of the shooting in Knightsbridge, Michael Pech was awaiting sentencing after admitting harassment.
The confidential helpline will have one number for callers anywhere in the UK and there will be a single point of contact in every police force.
The service will be run by Protection Against Stalking, formerly the CRT Trust, the charity Mrs Bernal helped to start in 2008, in collaboration with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust and Network for Surviving Stalking." -BBCA helpline for the UK has been set up to help victims of stalking, the service is... more
-
-
A rare and fascinating look at the inner workings of the paparazzi who relentlessly stalk Britney.
Stalking Britney
Monday 19th April, 10pm
Current TV (Virgin Media 155, Sky Channel 183)
For our hard-hitting documentary schedule and video excerpts, join the group at:
http://current.com/groups/mondayA rare and fascinating look at the inner workings of the paparazzi who relentlessly... more
-
-
The man responsible for sending sex-based and lewd text messages to R&B singer Ashanti's family was sentenced to two years behind bars this past week.
According to reports, the sentencing took place on Thursday (February 18).
Devar Hurd barraged Ashanti's mother, Tina Douglas, with lewd messages about her daughter, including snapshots of his genitals and the Douglas family home. In response, the judge handed down the maximum sentence for Hurd's misdemenor crimes in hopes of him receiving pyschiatric care in confinement. Still, Hurd's prosecutors weren't satisfied. "Even if he believes that Ashanti was in love with him, his conduct was not that of a man wooing a woman," said Assistant District Attorney Carolina Holderness. "He was not sending her flowers." (MTV)
Hurd was found guilty of stalking in court last December.
A would-be rapper was convicted Tuesday of harassingAshanti's mother, Tina Douglas, with a flurry of dirty photos and lewd text messages about the Grammy Award-winning R&B star. Devar Hurd shook his head as a Manhattan jury delivered its verdict after two days of deliberations, finding him guilty of stalking and aggravated harassment for messages the singer's mother called scary and disgusting. Hurd, a sometime model and car salesman from Griffith, Ind., said he thought the crude messages, photos of his genitals and a picture of the home where Ashanti's family lives were welcome. The 31-year-old is being held without bail until his sentencing, set for Jan. 11. He faces up to two years in prison. His lawyer, Richard Verchick, left court without speaking to reporters and didn't immediately return a phone call afterward. (Associated Press)
For Hurd, his lewd sex-based text messages and photos were not criminal.
Ashanti's mother, Tina Douglas, testified Hurd was a stranger who bombarded her with disgusting messages, though she told him to stop. She says he didn't. Defense attorney Richard Verchick said Hurd was misunderstood. "Sending pictures and texts is not a crime," he said. "The intent was never to harass Tina or Ashanti...What he wanted was what we all want in life -- love." (CBS News)
The convicted man allegedly sent over 30 inappropriate text messages to Ashanti.
Devar Hurd sent more than thirty lewd messages, in which he described pleasuring himself while thinking of the sultry singer and members of her family, including mom/manager Tina Douglas. Reportedly behind bars in lieu of paying up $50,000 in bail, sources say Devar Hurd is expected to go on trial as early as next week on misdemeanor charges of stalking and aggravated harassment. The lewd messages, which began in May, reached Ashanti's mother on numerous occasions, describing locations where the singer or her sister were present for rehearsals and other events. (Singers Room)The man responsible for sending sex-based and lewd text messages to R&B singer... more
-
-
Hundreds of police workers have faced disciplinary action for looking at internet pornography and social networking sites, figures show.
More than 400 officers and support staff have been sacked or given warnings after being caught looking at inappropriate material online.
Officers have also been dismissed for using police databases to check out people’s backgrounds for personal reasons.
The total figure of 439 disciplined staff could be much higher because some forces refused to disclose details citing data protection rules.
Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act showed that an inspector in Lancashire was given a written warning for accessing sites at work which ‘are or might be considered to be indecent, offensive, pornographic, or obscene’.
An officer in the same force received a warning for viewing ‘inappropriate’ images.
Earlier this year an inspector was caught looking at ‘pornographic images via the internet’.
South Yorkshire was the force with the worst record, with 53 members of staff caught on inappropriate sites.
One officer was reprimanded for posting an ‘unauthorised video on a commercial internet website’.
A sergeant was warned over the inappropriate use of an email three times, while a PC was disciplined for ‘retention of inappropriate material on the computer system’.
Two civilian police workers and a PC were also forced to leave after accessing ‘police systems to obtain police information without a legitimate policing purpose’.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1239976/Porn-shame-hundreds-police-staff-disciplined-internet-use.html#ixzz0bSfuLWRXHundreds of police workers have faced disciplinary action for looking at internet... more
-
-
University of Pennsylvania Clinical psychologist, Dr. Mary Riggs Cohen, and her former patient, Jacob Heinz, share their thoughts about what it means to live with the silent disability called ASPERGER SYNDROME (ALSO CALLED HIGH FUNCTIONING AUTISM), a neurological disorder of the brain. Jacob Heinz was jailed in 2006 in a Bensalem, Pennsylvania Police Department sting operation via myspace.com where officers posed as a 13 year old girl and had sexual conversations. Given the skyrocketing autism epidemic bedeviling the United States, are adult men and women with asperger syndrome more likely to commit sexual crimes than others?University of Pennsylvania Clinical psychologist, Dr. Mary Riggs Cohen, and her former... more
-
-
If you were going to stalk someone, wouldn't you pick a less obvious way of doing it than from a plane? A guy in California tried to get over a restraining order, by using a low flying plane and dropping insulting leaflets over his girlfriend's house.
Neighbours saw leaflets falling from the sky as a plane skirted the area eight times. "The leaflets referenced a specific person and contained defamatory language and racial slurs. As the investigation has progressed, it appears that the motivation behind this situation is a failed domestic relationship" said the police.If you were going to stalk someone, wouldn't you pick a less obvious way of doing... more
-
-
Is this proof that cats are more evil than we thought? Or just very crap stalkers? You decide!Is this proof that cats are more evil than we thought? Or just very crap stalkers? You... more
-
-
D.C. Council member Marion Barry was arrested last night and charged with stalking a woman after the woman reported that Barry was "bothering her" as the two traveled in separate vehicles in Anacostia Park, police said this morning.D.C. Council member Marion Barry was arrested last night and charged with stalking a... more
-
