Facebook Geo

When I first started reading about this new service on Wired, I was tricked into thinking that it simply lets you “check-in” at a place and send a notification to your friends who are nearby. Just then I thought: “Great, another privacy screw up, yet I am sure no one will care!“

However, when I started reading further down, I began to think than things might be a little bit more complicated when it comes to this service!

Facebook VP, Chris Cox: “Stories are going to be pinned to a physical location so that in 20 years our children will go to Ocean Beach and their phone will tell them this is the place their parents had their first kiss, and here’s the picture they took afterwards, and here’s what their friends had to say.”

An Illusion of Utopia?

I am not a pessimist however, I wonder: Are the Facebook people living in a dream of utter utopia? I mean I understand what they are trying to do but didn’t they think of the other side of this argument? What if someone went somewhere and “checked-in” then had an accident? A huge fight with a partner? Was robbed or even raped? Would they want to carry this “memory” with them for years after? Would they really want their grandchildren to know about it?