Just in time for Halloween: something definitely fright-inducing because it’s all too real.

Today’s Internet sensation is a Facebook app called “Take This Lollipop.” Go to Facebook and search for it and you’ll find it. But think twice before you click on it. The app accesses   your data from your Facebook profile and then builds it into a video of a grimy, seemingly psychotic man, who in the video then peruses  your photos, loads up a Google map that shows your address, and then drives to  your house with a photo of you taped to his dashboard, evidently intent on doing you harm. It’s a terrifying vision of just how accessible many of the details of your life are, due to social media sharing (and an unfounded sense of trust).  It’s not fully clear yet who is behind this or why (although, as Forbes archly notes, it’s surely not Facebook).

Here’s an example:

The last time I saw something that looked like this, it was the “X-Files” spinoff “Millennium,” with Lance Henriksen. But that was entirely fictional.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 18th, 2011 at 9:51 pm and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.