OMG Geograph

[chunklovescooks]

0.0 You can post an image of my dog if you happen to photograph it from a
public vantage point. Your comparison however is a little wrong. And
actionable.

> By posting images of
> horses and other POI's of criminals, they can start examining the
> surrounding area before they even get there! I think your unwillingness to
> co-operate with the equestrian community for the sake of a "game" is
> childish!

The equestrian community does a fine job of providing that
intelligence in far more up to date manner than Geograph. Let's take
the House and Hound forum, because I'm an avid reader now. Check the
classifieds section. I chose a horse a random, got a phone number in
Bedfordshire. Googled it, found the address. Checked aerial photo of
house on Google Maps. Checked prices of recent house sales on that
street at houseprices.co.uk - seemed an affluent area. Also got
another google result with the full name and email address of the
owner, with partial photograph and other useful info. From that I got
his approximate age and the names of his wife and other house
occupants from the electoral roll.

Sadly no picture on Geograph but more than enough information for a
little social engineering.

I know I've no chance of winning you over here, but I'm trying to
illustrate that rather more intelligence is out there than you might
imagine, and I would bet that a well motivated criminal gang has even
more sources at their disposal.


Paul

Just got that off him. Does he know all owners dont keep horses at their house?

 

[carys220]

Does he realise that we don't plan on selling our horses so their and our details are not in the classified section!!!!! D'OH!!!! IDIOT!! And I hope he reads this!!!

 

[chunklovescooks]

Yeah, we put them on Geograph to be stolen, DUH

 

[molehill]

I cant believe him.
Why cant he see that what he is doing is causing distress and worry to some people.

 

[chunklovescooks]

Tri, where abouts in w/yorks are you? no postcodes or grid references please!

 

[carys220]

[ QUOTE ]
I cant believe him.
Why cant he see that what he is doing is causing distress and worry to some people.

[/ QUOTE ]

Because he is a person without respect for other people's wishes.

 

[carys220]

Keighley. Horses are further out towards Harden.

 

[chunklovescooks]

Ah nice one. Yeah, he seems to have little respect for others, then again, photographing other peoples property all the time must get lonly!

 

[molehill]

Thankyou all for helping me.I will let you know when it gets removed.Fingers crossed it will!

 

[Leah3horses]

I've posted on the Geograph site to say that insults never help anything..I'm going to get shot down in flames here but can we get this in proportion please...where is the evidence that Geograph is going to encourage horse thieves? How many people on H&H found their horse by responding to a picture on a website in the first place?!

Yes horse thieves are out there, they always have been, sad to say. I believe there is room for horse sites, Geograph and similar to co exist. Google Earth has been around for years, horses can clearly be seen there...and on postcards, calendars,holiday brochures etc and in depth here on H&H and hundreds of other horse websites and magazines. Not to mention cctv in more urban areas.

Objectivity is quite sparse on H&H at the best of times...think we need to keep it calm and think things through.Knee jerk reactions only cause hysteria. I have considered how I'd feel if I saw my horses on Geograph (yes I've looked, they aren't there but there are some lovely pics of very local countryside).I do worry about horse thieves but this hasn't made me worry any more...my security is as good as I can make it.

The day horses are airbrushed out of photos of the countryside is the day paranoia and sensationalism win.

 

[sash]

this is outrageous!!! i've just checked and he has walked up our private drive which has a gate and has about 3 signs saying private he even took a picture of a private sign with one of the cows behind it!!!!! this is scary!

 

[chunklovescooks]

Noone said they were encouraging them, infact, quite the opposite, just the fact up-close pictures and postcodes of other people livestock... isnt right. It could be used as a tool by theives.

 

[LCobby]

very true Leah!
I can see my horses, horsebox, etc on Windows Local , and all their surroundings, in fine detail, which are not visible for a road or footpath. My name and address is printed in full in show catalogues, from which people could get my horsebox reg no..and know how many days I am likely to be away.
More current and timely info on property and location than a photo would show.

 

[carys220]

I think horses should have to give written permission to be shown in photos, just like humans!

 

[EstherYoung]

I find geograph really interesting but then I'm a sad map obsessive.

It's meant to be a historical record of our surroundings - there's old pics there too so that you can compare how things have changed. All very innocent, and I find it all fascinating. In the same way as you might buy a book about 'Yorkshire from the air' or 'Yorkshire in pictures' and find a pic of your house in it. And in the same way that when I was a kid at school we went round documenting the local area.

If people have been tresspassing to take photos then there's a valid grievance but as an exercise to document living history it's absolutely fascinating.

Geograph has been going for a good few years now. It's also dead useful for checking out new bridleway terrain. I'm probably going to be shot down in flames but I'd like to say thank you to the vast majority of geograph contributors for a really useful project. And if there are some that are inappropriate, you always catch more flies with honey so the comments about rudeness go both ways.

If you put your town/village or even road name into google you'll find loads of pics, not just geograph. Ramblers take pics of their walks, often through fields with livestock in them, complete with a map. Heck, I take photos of my rides and put them on t'interweb. My neighbour is a professional photographer and he often takes pics of pastoral country scenes for use in magazines. Should we ban photos altogether?

 

[YorksG]

You do not legally need permission of people to publish their photo. You do not have any say in where your image appearss. There may be issues about the photo itself, but look how many papers show photos without permission.

 

[Vicki_Krystal]

There is photo of the yard where my horses are kept - the photographer has taken it from the road - fair enough.

What is concerning though is that his comment under the pic says,
" This farm always appears empty when i go by"

did he really have to put that?

Its not the fact the photo is there - its an old farm, i expect there to be photos of it - but why mention the security??

 

[carys220]

I would just like to point out that this thread came about because of this news story:
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/397/270621.html

It's not just us on here that are going mad about it!

 

[xspiralx]

I feel like people are getting totally unnecessarily hysterical about this.

Fair enough if somebody has trespassed to take the picture then that is out of order.

However simply pictures taken of your horse that can be seen from a public road or footpath is nothing more than any potential horse thief could see for themselves on a walk. People post pictures and information on here that would be enough to find the horses in question with a little digging - anytime you go to a show or on a hack somebody could see you and follow you back to wherever you keep your horse.

I honestly don't think that this website is going to make a great deal of difference to the chances of your horse being stolen.

 

[Arabelle]

I agree with the voices of reason that have started to emerge. I found the site fascinating and a potentially valuable piece of social history.

I appreciate people's concern for their horses, of course I do. However, I did have to smirk at the outraged tone of people whose houses were photographed. I don't know about you, but I don't have an invisibility shield for my house. In fact, anyone walking along the street can see it - what an invasion of my privacy!

Joking aside, I do think this has to be seen in proportion with the wealth of information that is already on the web.
A

 

[chunklovescooks]

Right, if people can see your property from ground level, able to see entrances/exits/camera's or security features, they can plan whatever they like before they even get there! Seeing it from BEV is totally different! There is no need for pictures and postcodes of horses, or private property! owners should be asked surely? I'm sure the security services would be very interested as there is pictures of the MI6 building up there! Its a terrorist's HAVEN!

 

[molehill]

My house is also on there,but i dont have a problem with that,its my horse that i have a problem with.
I actually quiet enjoyed looking at the site and photos

 

[trundle]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm sure the security services would be very interested as there is pictures of the MI6 building up there! Its a terrorist's HAVEN!

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh, for god's sake, get a grip. I used to work in an office with a lovely view of the MI6 building, I could have sat at my desk with a pair of binoculars and watched all their comings and goings. The whole point is, everyone knows where Vauxhall Bridge House is, its NOT a secret, and rightly so. You can buy postcards with pictures of VBH. If a terrorist wants to have a look at the MI6 HQ, he can buy some sarnies and sit on a bench the other side of the river and admire it.

I think you are getting the tiniest bit hysterical over this.

 

[Ebbo]

I don't see the problem! God it's the nanny-state gone mad! If people want to nick your horses, they are going to nick them whether they are on a website or not! How many people do you see driving cars when you go for a ride? Well any one of those could be driving around to find out which stables are where - and how many footpaths run through/close by stables and horse fields?

 

[carys220]

Well I don't know about your house but I seem to have an invisibility cloak....so I'll say it again.


THIS THREAD STARTED BECAUSE OF A NEWS STORY!
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/397/270621.html

It's not just us 'hysterical' owners!!!!!

 

[chunklovescooks]

Indeed, i dont just belive any old hoo-harr but this is really quite worrying! Its not hysteria, you would rather people can search openly for farms and land (photographed) with OUR horses on than being able to tell people yourself where you keep your horses, the fact is that this site makes it far too easy to look at horses and farms to plan a theft, or not just that, but premesis of shops and other buildings.

S

There's even banks on there!

 

[sunflower]

[ QUOTE ]
Does he realise that we don't plan on selling our horses so their and our details are not in the classified section!!!!! D'OH!!!! IDIOT!! And I hope he reads this!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe not but some people on here post far more detailed information then can be found in the HHO classified section or on the geograph site. Photos of their horses clearly showing where they are, where they hack (or happily telling people where the lovely hacking photo was taken) what livery yard they are at, when they are usually there etc. Not to mention all the hypothetical 'how much' posts to give a nice idea of their value. OK, so the geograph may give a grid reference but it's really not that difficult to work out the location of a horse from the information posted on here by some people.

 

[toffeesmarty]

This site appears to have answered the questions earlier this year regarding the mysery photographer, which is a bit of a relief. What those of you who have pics of your horses on the site should do is a personal decision, but I do agree it is worrying.
However, it also answers what the mystery man with a camera was doing outside my children's primary school earlier this year, as yes there is a picture of the school. Not sure what a 1990's primary school is going to add to the historic aspect of the site but it has put my mind at rest that we don't have a resident pervert here!

 

[Kenzo]

OMG our livery yard is on there!

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

The info can surely be gotten by walking past, but how much easier for horse theives and burglars that they no longer have to make the effort, nor to risk being challenged by me or my Doberman.

If people want to take photos for their own use thats OK, but its not OK to post them on a public forum, my horse is my copyright not theirs, as it were!!

If any photographer refuses to remove an image when requested I suggest you go to their property and take about 50 photos of every aspect of it and post them on geograph along with details of when the house appears to be empty etc.

Also I wonder what the police's view on it is.

Google earth has lots of detail too - and it is also causing problems eg properties with swimming pools being invaded by gangs.

I dont think these sites should show such identifiable detail, the downside is bigger than the upside.

The problem is that its unlikely we would ever be able to prove it given the crappy clear up rates for burglary.