A new “geolocation information generator” has been launched on the internet. Its creator, Yiannis Kakavas, has given it the interesting name of Creepy. Many privacy rights advocates have raised their worries about the probable impact of this application to individual privacy. What can this new application do and why should it stir such concern?
Creepy was created by Kakavas for Linux or Windows. The third package that is still in development is for Mac OS X. Essentially, this app pinpoints a user’s location by making use of the user’s data in social networking services. It can do this by accumulating bits of the user’s data that is uploaded to the network and putting together bits of information. The software has just been launched but is already performing well.
Kakavas embedded a search utility in the app to find any individual of interest. A user can simply input the Twitter or Flickr username of that person then hit the “Geolocate Target” button. What Creepy does is download all photos or tweets that the individual has offered online. From each of the downloaded resources, Creepy will look for the user’s location at the time the material was uploaded.
The software then aggregates every piece of information on hand to find a meaning. After processing, the user’s specific locations are presented by showing a map. Individually, these data on locations do not tell any important information. But when aggregated as a whole, it has much to tell about the “target”. It shows his or her most frequented places or hang-outs, the area around his or her house, and even his or her workplace. These bits of information are now enough to make him or her susceptible to stalkers.
It only took three months for Kakavas to finish the program. He made use of accessible data found in publicly available libraries like osmgpsmap, pyexif2, and tweepy. In his mind, Kakavas believes that he has created something that will encourage people to put more worth on their privacy. He would like to intensify user understanding about the dangers of casual sharing of personal information online.
He explains that small pieces of data can be put together in order to make bigger, more meaningful information. Users are often too late to realize that it would have been better if they kept that information to themselves. The usual ones are address, place of work, the places they hang out most often, when they are not at home, and many others.
He also said that Creepy is for social engineers to have a better means of information gathering. Creepy can be used to carry out penetration testing, especially for security analysts. Information that is gathered can be used for various purposes in later time.
Using a software application like Creepy pinpoints where you are all the time.. The opposite of this is to use an anonymous proxy to change your IP address which masks your actual location.