With the advent of Google Latitude and the new geo-tagging features of digital cameras and cel phones, we’re beginning to see a new era where one’s online presence meets one’s real-world presence. The question must be asked though–how much information do you really want to share? As pointed out in this article about establishing a “location-aware lifestyle”, there are some inherent worries. The author’s wife points out that he’s announced on his blog that he’ll be out of town for two weeks, and that on Flickr, he’s posted many photos taken in his apartment that show all his fancy, expensive electronic equipment, along with geo-tags showing the exact location of said apartment. As a proof of concept, he watches a woman take a picture in the park on an iPhone, then goes to Flickr later that day, searches by location and finds the photo, and from there easily finds that woman’s home address. A friend recently let me know that she’d been contacted by her former stalker from 20 years ago, who found her through someone else’s web page that had her contact information listed. Needless to say, she was not pleased.

There’s a fine line between arranging easy meet-ups with your network and “Hey! Who’s that creepy guy hanging around in the bushes in front of my house?”