Mike Elgan put up a post today that follows up on the buzz about the PleaseRobMe.com site. If you're not familiar with it, the site posts Twitter items from folks who include the phrase "left home." Get it? The implication is pretty simple, but what the site leaves out is the essentials of just where this person's home is. And in fact, as Mike points out, most of these folks are likely to be pretty far away. Never fear - Google's Buzz comes to the aid of those nefarious folk.

Read Mike's explanation here. 

But in fact, there have been plenty of these facilities around for the last few years. Brightkite.com is one, FireEagle.com is another. And most of them allow the user to hide their exact locations from lurkers who are not close friends. That still doesn't provide a real safeguard though.

A couple years ago, when we took off on a 2 month trip, I was blogging for bMighty.com about the trials of staying connected, and using various technology on the road. Of course, anyone reading the column knew that I wasn't at home (afterall that was the point...). To lessen the chances of someone taking advantage of my absence, I installed a set of WiLife surveilance cameras... then I wrote about them so that those interested in taking advantage, also knew that I was still watching.

I agree with Mike's warnings, but I also think that whether Google fixes (not sure how that would happen) Buzz or not, there will be other ways to track and take advantage of people with the aid of the increasing variety of social media that feeds on our need to be visible, recognized, and public. The only real answer is in personal responsibility and not being stupid (not that I'm always either or both of those).

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