Well if you haven't you've been under a rock for the last week. Here's the short version:

When you leave your home and announce it on your favorite social networking site, somebody knows your house may be empty.

Duh. I remember reading a few pieces last year where people mused over whether their recent burglaries could really be traced back to their recent tweets and Facebook posts, but nobody really discussed it seriously. Enter PleaseRobMe.com and it's creators @ ForTheHack.

Their website works mainly off the 4Square feed, but uses other social networks as well, and posts an ongoing stream of moronic behavior for the whole world to see. Personally, I love it, but many people out there are pretty bent about the idea that someone would actually build a tool like this in the first place. It's fairly obvious the name of the site is tongue-in-cheek, and that the site isn't intended for actual thieves, but as of Tuesday the site boomed, being Digged, Cranky Geek'd and Boing Boing'd in the span of 24 hours.

Today they posted a new bit at the top of the main page @ PleaseRobMe:

We at Forthehack have been thinking about how we want to continue pleaserobme.com. It has received a lot of attention and it's time for a next step. We want to offer this website to a professional foundation, agency or company that focuses on raising awareness, helping people understand and provide answers to online privacy related issues.

If you're such a foundation, agency or company, contact us.

I say good for them. There's tons more to say about what they've done and the pros and cons of the way they're bringing the issue to light, but I'll close with what seems to be the main point from my perspective:

Modern corporations have no interest in your privacy, only their own. Because they cannot be held responsible for what you post, they are very enticed to treat your privacy as it is worthless, or worse yet as if it does not exist at all.