Photo by Adam Selwood

Without wishing to overly alarm those of you (or whose kids) use FourSquare or similar services, here’s a real-life example of what I cautioned about in my Gee-Oh!-Location post last September.

In the blog linked below, the author describes how she was stalked by a stranger to a restaurant where she’d checked in via FourSquare.

shea sylvia [blog edition] – A Cautionary Tale.

I have friends who work for geolocation services, who may wish to argue that this sort of thing is a bad apple that shouldn’t spoil the bunch. I understand the benefits of establishing win-win relationships with retailers one favors. I even understand (sort of) the gameplay aspects.

But if you must “check in,” make sure you do so privately to your friends also on the service, not to the general public. Because surely, the benefits of doing so publicly don’t outweigh the all-too-real risks.

Related: Think Twice Before You Post That

Thanks to ProducerGirl, whose original tweet about Shea Sylvia’s blog brought it to my attention.