Ever wonder who's looking at the stuff you put out on the web? I do, especially with all the recent attention MySpace has been getting these days -- grown men seeking young, vulnerable prey. And while I make it a point to only "network" on these types of sites (Xanga, Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, etc.) with people I know, it's still discomforting to know what random sketchy guys are reading your blogs and profiles. Especially with all the information you actually put out there -- someone could very well try to show up at your doorstep while you're keying an entry about how bored you are home alone for the week while your parents are on vaca (unlikely, but you never know).
So, at least for MySpace and Xanga, there are websites like profilesnoop.com and suhock.net that allow you to see more descriptive information about who's actually checking out your pages, how many times and at what time, and even IP addresses. Although this tracking is highly controversial, as we technically have the freedom to look at pretty much whatever we want without dealing with consequences (i.e., looking for a site providing instructions on how to create a bomb or kidnap little kiddies), some say certain sites' visitors should be monitored and put on some "creeps-to-look-out-for" list.
On a more extreme note, the controversy reminds me of that Tom Cruise movie, "Minority Report" -- about a precrime unit that can make arrests for having the intention to murder without having actually done it (three freaky psychic pod people can predict premeditated murders), where at the end (warning: spoiler!) there's an obvious glitch in the system, as you cannot predit certain actions based on feelings or ideas a person has. Or in this case, a website that a person likes to frequent, which I agree.
So, if you're interested and you are on these mindless "networking sites" that just waste hours upon hours of your day, you might like to check those out, if anything, to remind you that people are watching you.
Ivan Pereira @ Wed, 03/01/2006 - 5:04pm
As Plato said, "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"