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July 5, 2008 5:03:37 PM CDT

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Facebook App 'Nose' Where U R

Posted Apr 3, 08 12:02 PM CDT in Technology    Most Covered

(Newser) – A Facebook application launching in the UK will put people’s friends on the map—in real time, reports the Times. The Social Network Integrated Friend Finder or ‘Sniff’ app lets users pinpoint a friend’s cell phone down to the nearest 650 feet. Privacy is a priority: users need to give permission before they can be tracked, and they can specify who can and can't zero in on them.

Accessed through Facebook itself or a cell phone, Sniff triangulates a phone’s position from nearby base stations, and then texts the ‘sniffer’ its location. However, some think the system is open to abuse by inquisitive employers or curious partners, and others find the prices sniffy: The planned charge is $1.50 per trace, making the world’s most popular text—Where R U?—still cheaper to send.

Sources Times (UK), Daily Telegraph (UK)

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The Sniff application will be able to pinpoint mobile phones down to the nearest 650 feet.   (AP Photo)
This photo photo provided by the Medill News Service shows a Facebook web page seen in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008.   (AP Photo/Medill, News Service, Lillian Cunningham)
Soon UK users of Facebook will be able to sniff out their friends, much like Uno the beagle, posing after eating steak at Sardi's Restaurant in New York, in this Feb. 13, 2008 file photo.   (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, file)
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cell phones  • United Kingdom  • Facebook  • cell phone industry  • surveillance  • text messaging


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