The danger of using a ride app
 

Bummer part about technology today is that if you're riding with your mobile phone, *someone* knows where you are unless you either turn the phone off or disable all the various antennas (WiFi, GPS, data, etc.) This post reminds me that perhaps I should go make my Strava rides "private" as they all pretty much show where I live and where I ride :(

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.

I think the title of your post would more accurately be “The danger of assaulting people while using a ride app”.

I doubt he even put two and two together before uploading.

He may not have even thought about it. I have a mid-range Garmin Edge and it automatically syncs itself both to Garmin’s own service as well as Strava.

He didn't.

The article isn't actually about the guy who assaulted the kids.

Interesting. But you could argue that the Strava data actually cleared him once the correct date was announced.

I’ll agree , though, that ride data will probably be used for some nefarious purpose by someone, if it hasn’t already happened.

The data would have cleared him if it wasn’t publicly shared, too.

Ah, I see. Thanks for clarifying.

Thanks. I was wondering if people upload data as rides are happening. I don’t use any of that technology. Hell. I still make paper cue sheets for some of my tours. Can’t kindle a fire with a phone or GPS unit. But I did get a Kindle Fire a few years ago.😀

public crucifixion is real! be safe out there!

Why did it take so long for 1984 to get here?

Reason 123 I don't use Strava. My logs would make it very easy to figure out where I live and when I can be found on the road. This article shows just how easy it is for posting that kind of info can go wrong.

Strava doesn't necessarily reveal your home or other starting point. It's up to the user. There are several privacy options, from routes to the Flyby doodad.

The privacy zone setting lets users obscure their starting/finishing point by up to 5/8 mile. And Strava says the privacy zone "circle" isn't precisely centered over the user's start/finish point.

You can also crop the start and end of a ride by any amount. If you prefer a long warmup and cool down around a workout, you can crop the entire slow warmup and cool down and keep only the fastest/hardest workout part of the ride.

Some folks also drive to and from a start/finish point, which further obscures your home base.

But if you ride the same routes often enough, if someone wants to find you I suppose they could use that info. But the routes I ride are popular with dozens of riders so a stalker would be waiting a long time to catch me. And I don't ride any particular schedule. I vary my start/finish points a bit from time to time too. Not due to security concerns. I just get bored. Or traffic or road conditions force re-routing.

There was a valid security concern when some military personnel were setting their workouts to public on Strava. Some news reports misstated it as revealing secret bases. The bases weren't really secret. But Strava logs could be used to identify patterns in workout schedules and routes. Not big deal on most bases where any passerby or observer could already see musters, formations and workouts anyway.

I've noticed a friend who travels a lot both for business and recreation has turned off his Flyby, so I no longer see him on Flyby although I see his logs on Strava and occasionally see him on the road. Occasionally I've used Flyby to be sure someone I saw along the road was someone I knew and might offer a kudo and comment. But if I don't know them well I won't do that. Seems stalkerish.

The one exception I've made about contacting strangers is to use Flyby to try to return items I've found along the road -- sunglasses, mini pumps, lights, phones. Sometimes it works, usually it doesn't. I'm still holding a pricey lost phone and good quality mini pump in case the owner claims them. I've posted notices on Facebook riding groups too.

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 :rolleyes:

What Orwell would never have guessed is that we would willingly install the cameras at our own expense. In many cases even pay subscriptions to keep them running.

Very true. 1984+ now and well on the way to Soylent Green

I have been under the mistaken impression that I can enjoy riding without an app. I guess I need to get woke.

You can enjoy the ride, sure, but you are missing out on the data, no? And if that's not something you value, fine, but it is independent of ride enjoyment I would say.

Go right ahead and enjoy your data-free ride. You’ve been granted permission from the interwebs.

I pretty much figure I’m too boring to stalk. And if someone really wants to know where I live...they’d just...follow me home.

FWIW, there are apps that let you track you rides/hikes/whatever without it being loaded to the web and shared.

I use MotionX. Or just use an old school cycling computer.

Strava Heat Map is a great tool for State and Federal Park Rangers to find all the rogue MTB trails on the Park land.

Unfortunately the stalker decides whether you are an interesting target, you can't decide on his behave.

I'm pretty sure I don't interest many stalkers.

1984 vIs it government overreach and mass surveillance if we choose to be tracked? This is simply user generated interest which isnt at all a theme of 1984.
That book is over referenced.