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Facebook-'Dipping' Teens Using Web 2.0 to Find Secret Pool Parties
Well, UK newspaper the Telegraph is reporting that some British teens have found a clever way to cool off during this sweltering season with a little help from Google Earth and Facebook.
The kids are using the accurate imagery on Google Earth to find out where private swimming pools are located and then inviting friends (and anyone else they've linked to) via social networking sites like Facebook and Bebo to join them at clandestine pool parties, often picking late night hours or waiting until homeowners leave for work during the day to trespass and go for a swim. It's called Facebook 'dipping.'
Police are getting reports of people returning to their homes at the end of the day to find their pools and back yards full of beer cans and other evidence of these impromptu parties. Others are being awakened late at night by partying kids, who advise each other on Facebook to bring their bicycles so they can make a quick getaway if caught.
So far we haven't seen reports of this happening stateside – but Web access, rising temperatures and a little ingenuity seems to promise incidents soon. (Who knows? By writing about it are we giving kids bad ideas? For the record, we're firmly against trespassing and other tomfoolery.)
The British police are advising homeowners to be aware of the problem – but they haven't exactly spelled out what people should do, short of draining the water from their pools. [Source: The Daily Telegraph.]
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Comments
129
Subscribe to commentsRobocamJun 27th 2008 2:08AM
Hook up a sophisticated camera through your router, then freeze frame an 18-year old guy naked around your pool with a boner, then post it on facebook.
RobocamJun 27th 2008 2:09AM
Pools should always be open to the pubic, I mean public.
Travis RobinsonJun 27th 2008 2:15AM
Thats why I have a pet Hippo living in my pool:) Have you seen how mean a Hippo can be? Its a valid thought:)
DeeDeeJun 27th 2008 3:12AM
Sorry but the pool is an 'attractive nuisance' and it is up to the owner to keep unwanted people OUT... if they break in and swim or skateboard in the pool with/without water, no problem, according to case law in the US. So pool owners beware. Take photos of these breakers-in and publish them in the local papers!
Larry CookJun 27th 2008 4:15AM
When sociaty allows an undetermined portion of it's population to spiral
out of , and beyond control ; then the whole of sociaty becomes subject
to more severe and less tolerable laws.
LRover7Jun 27th 2008 5:27AM
Kids have been doing this for 50 years here.We used to sneak into public pools or beach clubs at night.My friends live near a high-school,and kids use their pool alot,even with double-fencing and a dog-run around it.
ChrisBFLJun 27th 2008 12:03PM
I agree with a lot of the comment on what could happen here. Yes, someone could very easily get shot and killed. Think about this. About 6 months ago, a home invasion in Connectiut cost the lives of a doctor and his entire family. You don't know if its some kids having some fun at your expense or a Charles Manson type killer or killers on your property. I know I would shoot first and ask questions later and I would be justified in doing it.
LynxxinJerseyJun 27th 2008 3:49PM
Our backyard is fenced, but only with chain link. We have no dog, but there is a "Beware of Dog" sign and a huge water dish inside the fence. Also, the gate is locked. We have a motion sensor in our pool, and at night, we keep the area well lit. Nobody has ever had the chutzpah to climb the fence and swim.
Also, the chain link fence can be seen through by all our neighbors, and we are very big on neighborhood watch here.
StacyPooJun 28th 2008 12:46PM
Hasnt made it stateside??? I disagree... back 16-17 years ago we used to do this all the time... we knew who in the neighborhood had a pool and we would wait till they went to work, sneak in and party all day in their pool.
Or we would do what was called "pool hopping" where we would go out late at night and jump into random peoples pools in the neighborhood, make a big spash and a lot of noise for a few breif minutes then run like hell to the next pool we could find and do it again! It was all harmless fun back then!