The danger of using a ride app
#26
WALSTIB
Bet your fun at parties.
#27
Senior Member
Fortunately, we can decide whether or not to use this technology. You get to decide how much other people know, for the most part.
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Neither did the person referenced in the article. He just happened to be near the area where another person knocked over BLM signs. A twitter person decided the strava user was the culprit based on heat data and then doxxed him.
Because of that article, I've made my Strava much more private. I've got nothing to hide, but no reason to give that info away either, especially to the SJW/Karen crowd.
Because of that article, I've made my Strava much more private. I've got nothing to hide, but no reason to give that info away either, especially to the SJW/Karen crowd.
#29
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I am not sure what is more amusing.
That so many insignificant people believe that they are in any danger of being stalked.
Or that those same people believe that they are safeguarding themselves from a potential stalker by not using an exercise tracking app.
Their tin foil hats must be uncomfortable to wear in the summertime
That so many insignificant people believe that they are in any danger of being stalked.
Or that those same people believe that they are safeguarding themselves from a potential stalker by not using an exercise tracking app.
Their tin foil hats must be uncomfortable to wear in the summertime
What I do for a living often puts me into an oppositional relationship with people of questionable mental health and/or violent tendencies, many of whom live in my immediate home area. You're damn straight I don't care to make my riding habits too easy to find online. As far as security settings, I'm pretty sure I'd screw those up from time to time, and would rather not have to worry about it.
I know there's some risk to riding out in public, there's nothing crazy about avoiding something of very limited benefit that makes that risk any higher.
#30
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#31
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#32
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Neither did the person referenced in the article. He just happened to be near the area where another person knocked over BLM signs. A twitter person decided the strava user was the culprit based on heat data and then doxxed him.
Because of that article, I've made my Strava much more private. I've got nothing to hide, but no reason to give that info away either, especially to the SJW/Karen crowd.
Because of that article, I've made my Strava much more private. I've got nothing to hide, but no reason to give that info away either, especially to the SJW/Karen crowd.
I can think of scenarios where other riders would justifiably feel much differently. But I would think they would have already known that before reading the article.
#33
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And there you go with your usual trolling.
What I do for a living often puts me into an oppositional relationship with people of questionable mental health and/or violent tendencies, many of whom live in my immediate home area. You're damn straight I don't care to make my riding habits too easy to find online. As far as security settings, I'm pretty sure I'd screw those up from time to time, and would rather not have to worry about it.
I know there's some risk to riding out in public, there's nothing crazy about avoiding something of very limited benefit that makes that risk any higher.
What I do for a living often puts me into an oppositional relationship with people of questionable mental health and/or violent tendencies, many of whom live in my immediate home area. You're damn straight I don't care to make my riding habits too easy to find online. As far as security settings, I'm pretty sure I'd screw those up from time to time, and would rather not have to worry about it.
I know there's some risk to riding out in public, there's nothing crazy about avoiding something of very limited benefit that makes that risk any higher.
We're living in a crazy world, there's no doubt about that.
#34
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The danger I see from using a tracking app, is that my friends will see how many times (and for how long) I was a slacker when I stopped to rest or just to smell the roses, which is really easy to do now that COVID encourages solo rides.
But seriously, I know that I'll be uploading my ride to the public, so it makes me think twice about viciously laying into someone (rider, driver, or ped) for being a jerk on the road or path (maybe the police should think this way about their body cam footage?). You never know who will try to hunt you down and seek revenge, and the Strava FlyBy (which I intentionally leave enabled) makes it really, really easy to identify me.
But seriously, I know that I'll be uploading my ride to the public, so it makes me think twice about viciously laying into someone (rider, driver, or ped) for being a jerk on the road or path (maybe the police should think this way about their body cam footage?). You never know who will try to hunt you down and seek revenge, and the Strava FlyBy (which I intentionally leave enabled) makes it really, really easy to identify me.
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After thinking about this a bit more, it occurs to me that I don't have any *need* for my ride data to be public. Even if the additional risk is very minor, it's still there. Why not eliminate it? Strava privacy setting adjusted.
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#37
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I just don’t see any upside for me to having more of my personal info... in this case my location history... out there in the open, or being collected by a company or government. Only potential downsides.
I need to be getting something of value in return, and I don’t see what value letting others see my rides is really offering me.
I need to be getting something of value in return, and I don’t see what value letting others see my rides is really offering me.
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#38
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Also, I just kind of hate the word "kudos". Sounds too much like "cooties".
#39
WALSTIB
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#40
Rouleur
Here's the reality. Simply riding with a smartphone allows you to be tracked. Just ask the rider who was listed as a prime suspect for a home robbery based on the fact that the police had no suspects and used tracking data from a cell tower. The rider had been doing loops in his neighborhood and passed near the house in question multiple times in the general time period when the burglary occurred. It was actually his good fortune he had a GPS computer active because it showed the DA that he never stopped and could not have been the perpetrator. Moral of the story is, between mobile phones, internet devices, camera's, etc... someone, somewhere, knows exactly where you are and what you're looking at. If you don't use a tracking app you're just keeping it out of the public forum. Big Gubment knows. It always knows...
#41
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Here's the reality. Simply riding with a smartphone allows you to be tracked. Just ask the rider who was listed as a prime suspect for a home robbery based on the fact that the police had no suspects and used tracking data from a cell tower. The rider had been doing loops in his neighborhood and passed near the house in question multiple times in the general time period when the burglary occurred. It was actually his good fortune he had a GPS computer active because it showed the DA that he never stopped and could not have been the perpetrator. Moral of the story is, between mobile phones, internet devices, camera's, etc... someone, somewhere, knows exactly where you are and what you're looking at. If you don't use a tracking app you're just keeping it out of the public forum. Big Gubment knows. It always knows...
Read the article linked in the OP. The risk they're identifying is that of putting your location data in the public forum. Just because there are other risks is no reason to ignore this one.
#42
I got a fever.
#43
I got a fever.
And there you go with your usual trolling.
What I do for a living often puts me into an oppositional relationship with people of questionable mental health and/or violent tendencies, many of whom live in my immediate home area. You're damn straight I don't care to make my riding habits too easy to find online. As far as security settings, I'm pretty sure I'd screw those up from time to time, and would rather not have to worry about it.
I know there's some risk to riding out in public, there's nothing crazy about avoiding something of very limited benefit that makes that risk any higher.
What I do for a living often puts me into an oppositional relationship with people of questionable mental health and/or violent tendencies, many of whom live in my immediate home area. You're damn straight I don't care to make my riding habits too easy to find online. As far as security settings, I'm pretty sure I'd screw those up from time to time, and would rather not have to worry about it.
I know there's some risk to riding out in public, there's nothing crazy about avoiding something of very limited benefit that makes that risk any higher.
#44
WALSTIB
Very true. I'm one to think one thing leads to next kind of thing. But Brother BF watching.
Last edited by hillyman; 06-10-20 at 11:29 AM.
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Imagine a level of hubris so great that you had in your possession electronically time-stamped GPS coordinates of the precise location you had committed a crime, and undoubtedly knew that this evidence could be used against you in a legal proceeding, and just decided to upload it to the internet anyway. Amazing.
#46
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If someone isnt using Strava for the social side of it, then much(most?) of Strava's appeal is lost.
I could just use my GPS' own website to track data and keep it private.
I could just use my GPS' own website to track data and keep it private.
#47
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I use Komoot. Basically, almost no one in the area seems to use it, and it defaults to private.
#48
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that's what I decided too, I know cyclists around the world and we have some (albeit limited) contact because of strava.
I think I saw the first person on twitter to identify PW (the wrong guy) and it was clear to me from the picture it wasn't the right person. For one thing, who wears a 20 year old orange MTB helmet if they have a much more recent helmet in their profile pic?
One thing that people probably shouldn't do is have their equipment in their profiles. This may have been the first known issue with strava, thieves.
I don't know if the ride was actually on strava. We don't even know how he was found, it's possible someone recognize him. Twitter certainly didn't mention him at all until after he was arrested. But since he didn't appear to have a gps on his bike, he probably uses a phone, so the ride would have been uploaded automatically. And the default setting is public. So there may not have been any thought about this issue on his part.
I think I saw the first person on twitter to identify PW (the wrong guy) and it was clear to me from the picture it wasn't the right person. For one thing, who wears a 20 year old orange MTB helmet if they have a much more recent helmet in their profile pic?
One thing that people probably shouldn't do is have their equipment in their profiles. This may have been the first known issue with strava, thieves.
Imagine a level of hubris so great that you had in your possession electronically time-stamped GPS coordinates of the precise location you had committed a crime, and undoubtedly knew that this evidence could be used against you in a legal proceeding, and just decided to upload it to the internet anyway. Amazing.
Last edited by unterhausen; 06-10-20 at 02:45 PM.
#49
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This situation is more like David Eggers’s “The Circle” where the population slowly demands that everyone be surveilled, videoed, and tracked 24/7. Those that refuse are essentially stripped of their rights.
#50
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Imagine a level of hubris so great that you had in your possession electronically time-stamped GPS coordinates of the precise location you had committed a crime, and undoubtedly knew that this evidence could be used against you in a legal proceeding, and just decided to upload it to the internet anyway. Amazing.
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Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
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