GPS navigation can find you the nearest Starbucks, check you in at your favorite restaurant, locate a hotel when you need to pull over for the night.
But as users of dating and hookup apps like Grindr and Scruff know, it can also find you a man — a nearby man — for conversation, cuddling, or something decidedly more R rated.
And that’s become a problem, at least in countries where homosexuality is punishable by fines, arrest and, in some places, far worse.
Last year, according to The New York Times, a Scruff user reported that police in Saudi Arabia had used the app to entice then deport an acquaintance. And that’s on safer end of what could happen should the app be used in the wrong country.
Which is why the manufacturers of these apps have taken some new and much appreciated safety measures. Last month, scruff added a new traveler alert safety feature. According to the Times, “when a user arrives in one of the nearly 100 countries where homosexual acts are criminalized, an alert will pop up when they open Scruff.”
Grindr has adopted a policy of sending alerts out to users when they get reports of entrapment using the app.
Take, for example, the Sudan. There, sexual acts can lead to corporal punishment or even the death penalty.
In addition to the new feature on Scruff, the app has added a new feature to flag a user for “entrapment” as a reason to report someone who seems dangerous. They’ve also added a feature to their website that lists all countries with laws that address sexual acts between consenting men.
