Sharing Your Browser Cache?

Some people and companies think that sharing your browser cache with the world is a good way to use the internet.

For example, voyurl.com allows you to share this information as does dscover.me.

I don't know, maybe I am too old, but do I really want to examine this sort of uncensored (yes, you can limit what's published but do you really want to rely on that) drivel?  In a particular situation, say work, where you are involved in some sort of group research this kind of thing might be handy - publishing a list of locations you've searched so your coworkers don't duplication your effort.  But in general, this is a lot like most of social networking: getting your fifteen minutes of fame 5 microseconds at a time.

(Though you've got to love the intro on dscover.me: "Automagically share what you're up to on the web with friends and followers in real-time."  Anyone using the word "automatically" has to be a real geek!)

I took a look at the promo quotes at dscover.me.  For example, Jessica says: "My boyfriend and I share travel sites so we can see which spots we're looking at on tripadvisor. Makes browsing more fun..." 

I imagine the fun of this will last until Jessica's boyfriend inadvertently publishes a link to a nude beach nearby the travel sites they've been checking out...  (Sorry honey, that link was Bob - he was over at the house for a beer and...  Kind of like "Honey I killed Osama bin Laden last night but I buried the body at sea before I got home..". but I digress.)

For me the beauty of the web is that there are always links that come up that seem interesting.  Sometimes they really are and sometimes they are crap.  For example, lately I have been searching for things related to iPad/iPhone development.  Mostly this involves developer.apple.com and places like stackoverflow.com - the very height of geekdome.

But there are many other aspects to what I do that have lead to places like www.adafruit.com where I picked up an Arduino for some electronic prototyping related to my project.  Adafruit was found by surreptitious discovery while researching the Microsoft Connect technology.

My interests are wide and varied and I imagine that few people would be interested in what I am doing at any given point in time.

Additionally what I do is often related to work and hence off-limits to general sharing.

No, this is just like Facebook where people publish things like "Just go home from work, taking a shower..." - do I really need to know this?

Perhaps if you are a young geek this will be fun - just like sharing your location on your iPhone.

But there are substantial security risks in all of this - especially if you aren't careful about what you share.

Then there is the constant stream of Russian brides awaiting my proposal, golden Rolex's, and on line pharmacies filling my inbox - almost all with web links.  Its easy enough to accidentally click on something in there which no doubt leads to a virus or worse.  Fortunately I have a Mac so I am virtually immune to the plethora of nasty virus associated with all this.

I guess just like in the physical world some sort of "protection" will probably be required before the "sharing" gets too far along...

Perhaps the wisest use of this technology would be to place it on your kids computer so that everywhere they go is posted to your browser as well...  that will keep little Jr off the porn sites and homeworkanswers.com.

In fact, you could probably share the kids browser history with grandma and Santa Claus... that way at Christmastime little Jr will have no say in the fact he receives a lump of coal instead of that new PlayStation he was looking for.