If you use Facebook Messenger, you’d be aware that a new Google Chrome extension map can track your location via Facebook’s location sharing function. The app is called Marauders Map, after the map in the Harry Potter series that tracks people at Hogwarts. It was created by Harvard College computer science student Aran Khanna.
Marauders Map works by taking Facebook Messenger’s location data from its users and plotting the results on a map. Sharing location data on Facebook is a default setting, so unless a user has turned this feature off manually, it is available for you to track your position as you travel. In fact, this new Chrome extension map is said to be able to track your position within a meter of your location.
Marauders Map Can Track Your Location Accurately
The Marauders Map creator says that he wrote the apps code using latitude and longitude coordinates that had over five decimal places of precision, which means it can track your position extremely accurately as you travel. It has caused alarm since it could potentially allow a person to stalk someone and possibly predict their future travel as long as they had access to the message thread of the person they wanted to locate.
Marauders Map to be Disabled, API Key Revoked
Because of this new function, Mapbox has revoked its API key and it will likely soon be disabled so it can’t find people as they travel. However, Facebook Messenger users should still reset their privacy settings so that their location won’t be shared. Additionally, the source code for the Marauders Map was made available to Github, which means some other developer could modify and use it elsewhere to track your location in another form.
How to Disable Ability to Track Your Location on Facebook
It’s not hard to disable the ability for Facebook Messenger to track your location as you travel so you don’t have to worry about stalkers. Just go to “settings,” then “privacy,” and “location services.” A list of installed apps will be displayed so that can track your location. Just locate Facebook Messenger or any other app you want to disable and make sure it reads “never.”
