Not my Buddy
by Angela Beswick
Today I was sucked in by a colleague who suggested for a laugh, I give the “Buddy” craze a try.
For those of you who like me, have been hiding under a rock the past few weeks, “Buddy” works like this:
You text your full name, and your suburb to 2230, and for $2.99, Buddy replies with any juicy info he has on you. The more you text, the more personal the information becomes. Reluctantly, I agreed to put Buddy to the test.
The initial information is stuff that would be easy to find for anyone who is signed up to Old Friends, or social networking sites like myspace or bebo, or even by running a Google search against my name.
While it is addictive, seeing what dirt Buddy may have on you, the ease with which personal details can be retrieved by someone who is a complete stranger is scary.
The first reply I got from Buddy reads like this:
“Buddy knows that Angela went to Sunnynook Preschool and loves showing off her racehorse legs along [my street]! Loves guys with foreign accents”.
In that paragraph are 4 statements… I did attend Sunnynook Preschool, and while I don’t have ‘racehorse legs’, Buddy did accurately name the street I live on. However, I don’t care much for guys with foreign accents.
Score: Buddy 2, Angela 2. (kind of)
So, egged on by my workmates, I sent a second text to Buddy. The reply was as follows:
“Buddy knows this gorgeous babe loves to rack up a bill on 0-9-410 xx7x chatting to all her girlfriends. She is known to be a tease.”
This is where I got a little scared. Buddy knew my phone number… and the fact i am a gorgeous babe. *gasp*
Score: Angela 2, Buddy 132628202.
While I realise that websites such as whitepages.co.nz and oldfriends.co.nz make sourcing personal information, phone numbers, workplaces, schools etc., a breeze for anyone with the right starting off point (ie: a name and a suburb), the speed of the replies I got from Buddy did freak me out at first.
We are living in a society where putting all kinds of information out on the internet for almost anyone to access is the norm and are therefore making ourselves vulnerable to stalkers and weirdos.
The information we have allowed to be visible on the internet is the information that Buddy uses to source his replies, and is just as easy for anyone else to find.
I’ll certainly think twice before I update my myspace page again.
Check out Jaheb’s piece about those clever monkeys at Bongo. Seems that there’s a couple of players in the “I know what you did last summer” game.
And it makes money. Perhaps I should set myself up. A couple of clever guesses and a few stock phrases and the coin rolls in.