Mobile App Allows Anonymous Geo-Tagging of Gun Owners
On July 4th, the Walking Tools Laboratory released the Gun Geo Marker App for Android OS Devices. This App lets users anonymously tag the locations of gun owners: “The Gun Geo Marker operates very simply, letting parents and community members mark, or geolocate, sites associated with potentially unsafe guns and gun owners. These locations are typically the homes or businesses of suspected unsafe gun owners, but might also be public lands or other locations where guns are not handled safely, or situations where proper rights to own or use any particular type of firearm may not exist.” The App’s creators add: “[Y]ou should mark any location about which you have a gun-related concern.” View Gun Geo Marker Website.
This tagging process is disturbing. As the Free Patriot website explains: “The applications’s entire purpose is to document and map the personal addresses of people who own guns. The ‘irresponsible’ part of that is completely at the discretion of the person [doing the tagging].”
The App’s developers encourage users to tag locations anonymously: “Happy Independence Day to all! What better way to spend your holiday than by exercising your first amendment right and making your neighborhood a safer place simply by anonymously marking the locations of any guns or owners of concern?”
The App developers have a clear anti-gun agenda: “If enough members of your community take the time to mark dangerous gun sites and owners, then this crowd-sourced data may … perhaps even influence national policy. It is a shame that this kind of ‘tattle ware’ is necessary, but it may be the only option….”
App Threatens Gun Owners
This geo-tagging App can be abused in many ways. First, the “tags” violate the privacy of law-abiding gun owners. Second, while the stated purpose of the App is to identify “potentially unsafe guns and gun owners”, there is no standard for determining “potentially unsafe”. Persons or businesses can be tagged solely to intimidate or harass. By pinpointing the location of gun owners, the tags also provide a road map for thieves. As one App reviewer states: “This app does nothing but invade the privacy of legal gun owners, and put them at risk of home robberies”.
Critical Comments from Google App Store Users:
“The makers of this app should be ashamed. The makers are asking people to rat out their neighbors. Thieves can use this app to know which houses to rob when the owners are off at work. Yes, the developers of this app have given criminals another excellent tool….”
“Anyone can mark anyone whether they own a gun or not. This is not reliable and only serves to invade the privacy of law-abiding citizens. It should be removed at once and never made available again.”
“Crime Magnet — This is dangerous and invasive. Dangerous because it allows criminals to determine where they might steal firearms. This has already happened thanks to a newspaper in New York.”
“Purely subjective and wrought with potential for abuse both by person doing marking AND potential criminals. This kind of app should be banned!”
“Great app for sheeple and criminals wanting to know which houses from which to steal firearms. Wonderful for attempting to stifle the 2nd Amendment rights and assisting Big Brother with violating the 4th Amendment as well.”
App Developed with Tax-Payer Money?
The Gun Geo Marker App was developed by Walking Tools Laboratory, which is affiliated with the University of California at San Diego (UCSD). Associated with Walking Tools is Brett Stalbaum, “a full-time lecturer and coordinator for the Interdisciplinary Computing in the Arts Major (ICAM) at UCSD”. We assume, therefore, that this App was developed, at least in part, by persons receiving tax-payer dollars through UCSD.
Similar Posts:
- FED DOJ Demands Google and Apple Turn Over Scope User IDs
- Smith & Wesson Responds to Attacks from Anti-Gun Policitians
- Radical Anti-Gun Measure, I-1639, Wins in Washington State
- New iPhone Weather App for Hunters from Realtree
- Atty. Gen’l Nominee Expresses Strong 2d Amendment Support
Share the post "Mobile App Allows Anonymous Geo-Tagging of Gun Owners"
Tags: Android OS, Geo Tag, Geo Targeting, Geo-Mapping, Gun Map, Privacy, UCSD, Walking Tools
This is highly in violation of everyones right to privacy and right to bear arms and goes along with what google has said that this will only increase criminal activity.
Any way we can check without getting the app if addresses are tagged? And couldn’t this program be brought down because it is a public safety hazard telling criminals where to find guns?
Anyway to upload the entire phone book on that app? Seems the only way to keep gun owners from being singled out is to include everyone.
John is right – all gun owners should download this POS and mark every single house they can… any house that’s unmarked. If we all stand together we can make their potentially illegal database useless.
We should load up all the white page addresses of NY city.
And just spam the hell out of it so it’s worthless.
And all the anti-gun politicians
Some like-minded posters beat me to it….
Just overload the thing by marking every house on every street. Easy to do.
Now when is the Apple app being released?
They are going to get some inocent person killed with this. A thief’s best friend.
Tag the houses of prominent anti-gunners!
When it comes time for confiscation, this will arm the thugs and Nato troops to come to your homes in no time flat….
Who the hell approved this piece of crap.
This one we can beat….Please put up a BIG announcement here when this piece of junk is up and active so we can overload it to death..!!!
Anybody know the addresses of Feinstein and Schumer? Put in the addresses of every anti-gunner you can think of, and once they find out this app just might get pulled.
Just went to google play store and it’s up and running, let’s see if we can overload it!
Another thing, I just looked at the developer site and it states “Disagree? We are taking feedback at (225) 267-7346″. We should be overloading them with calls too.
lawsuit waiting to happen. stupid people.
Does the app allow for a back track of what phone(s) performed the tagging (like a meta data file)?
I just tagged every single home, park, open space and business withing one mile of my home. I encourage everyone to do the same. If everything is tagged the app is useless.
Ahhh, It didn’t stick. You have to be at the address …….
This is going to take a while I can see.
…so if a person has to be at the address to tag it then call the cops on suspicious lurkers?
What’s next??? Homes of single mothers? Marking homes of families of a particular ethnicity???
VERY disturbing
I just flooded this app with random homes..
I’M SPARTACUS!!!