Geocaching and Mischief

Geocaching is the game of hiding something at a location of your choosing, then posting the GPS coordinates on the Internet, and inviting others to find it. Typically, the object is a bucket with some trinkets and a logbook. When you find it, you are supposed to write in the logbook, take one of the trinkets, and leave your own.

My initial reaction to all this was pessimistic. I thought, "has anyone else thought of the sinister implications of this?" After a few Google searches, combining the word 'geocache' with words like 'kill', 'harm', 'danger', 'stalk', and so on, I began to think not. Then I read this article on Salon (pointers from Follow Me Here):

The cynic in me thinks that it's just a matter of time before some malicious malcontent uses the system to plant a booby trap, or stuffs a cache with a dead animal or leaves behind a stink bomb. Imagine a serial killer using the geocaching game to toy with unsuspecting hikers.

Janelle Brown

So I guess I'm not so cynical after all.