genejockey 

Well, if you linked Strava to your Facebook account, you gave Strava permission to look at your profile and identify any Facebook 'Friends' who were also on Strava and had linked THEIR Strava and Facebook accounts.

mschwett 

not creepy at all. i only use strava on my web browser.

all my rides are private.

i never linked it to my facebook, and said no to any questions about data sharing. if you use it on your phone, there are clear settings to disconnect your contacts, etc.

the social media features are just that - features - and you don’t have to use them. stripped of their option to profit from my information, i happily pay them the monthly fee for cool analytics, logging, etc.

VicBC_Biker

I only gave Strava my email address; definitely didn't link it to my Facebook account. I never sign in to any site with my Facebook or Google account info.

diphthong

precrime. minority cycling report.

VicBC_Biker

And you've never gotten any suggestions for 'friends' that also use Strava?

One of the friend suggestions for me was an in-law who lives on the other side of the country and is a runner, not a cyclist. Another was a paddling buddy who doesn't even know I own a bike. The simplest explanation is that Strava is somehow harvesting contacts out of our emails. But I don't know.

Some folks find it 'useful' that when they read the news online, the ads in the sidebars refer to things they have looked for in an online search, or browsed at a shopping site. I find that as creepy as it would be meeting a complete stranger who knew a lot of details of my personal life. Old-fashioned concepts: 'personal life', 'privacy'.

mschwett 

no, nothing of the sort ever. probably because i don’t use it on my phone, and it has no access to my contacts or facebook. the best they’ll get out of me is targeted ads, but i pay them so they don’t show me any ads.

Wildwood 

Strava?



.....it's bad enough when i get pop-up ads for bras after my wife buys online. And she for tubular tires.


clear your handlebars, and your mind will follow.

rsbob 

Just like Linked-In. Don’t use Facebook, Twitter, WhatsAp or the hundreds of others, just Strava and Linked-in and limit what others can see. Credit cards, loans, BF, Google searches, YouTube vies, whatever, your personal data is being bought and sold constantly, just like all the opt—out notices you receive. There already are volumes written on all of us already in huge data bases. Don’t kid yourself that they almost know more about you and are trying to predict about you than you know, so I don’t sweat Strava, because its already public record already.

Bill in VA

You do not have to give a specific piece of data. With a lot of different data points, from disparate sources, using analytical software you can identify points in common and with fine tuning of the software, determine if they relate to the same person. That is the who, what, where, why and how of social media and data harvesters. It is why Europe has the GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation to try to prevent abuses. Unfortunately Facebook and Googles business models are based upon collecting data. You always need to read the Terms of Service (ToS) and Privacy Statements for anything. The majority say they can do everything, of if restrictive, that they can change the ToS on a whim...

I have 5+ email addresses for very specific purposes. Facebook has one that is used for NOTHING else. Anytime you fill out those 'warrantee registrations' either with pen and ink or online, they never get a mobile number and never get my main email. A friend used to use a modification of his name in the early internet and pre-smartphone age. With it he could alway find out where his USPS paper junk main came from.

I will not access Facebook on my phone and use a browser extension called the Facebook container to sandbox all activity on Facebook (which in my case in minimal...) and also prevent any social media trackers from phoning home while browsing. For that reason I will never "Like" someone or company on FB.

WHile one cannot be totally protected, and some say why worry, they already have everything, you can take steps. PRIVACY is like dental floss, once you get it out of the can and compromised by data miners and aggregators, it is real hard to recover it, just like it is hard to get the floss back in the container.

blue192

You are not the only one that finds it creepy. The USA military discovered by tracking Strava users the outline of top secret military based could be mapped by checking users profiles in Iraq and other war zones.

terrymorse 

Too bad that Strava doesn't publish their privacy policy.

Oh wait, they do.

billridesbikes

”Your privacy is very important to us.”

Right up there with “I’ll respect you in the morning.”

indyfabz

Pop-up ads for pushup bras?

BTW...I don't Strava either.

burnthesheep

I'm not giving the original topic starter a hard time, half way sympathizing. It is creepy, but it's also 100% voluntary.

I hear all the complaints about Facebook and Instagram doing creepy things, or banning this person but not that person, or promoting this but not that. It's a private company running a social media entertainment platform, meaning it is not necessary for breathing, eating, shelter......maintaining your life. It's 100% optional.

At anytime you can opt out and choose to not participate. You can choose in lots of these platforms the level to which you link/participate, but that takes some extra research and action on our parts.

walnutz

This is the correct answer. Don’t like it? Don’t use it. It’s not Strava’s job to protect your privacy.

Rolla

But they seem so sincere:

terrymorse 

It totally is Strava's job to follow their own published privacy policy.

genejockey 

"Will you still respect me in the morning?"
"I don't respect you now!"

CliffordK

I've been off of Strava since about the time they broke all of the cool features.

However, when I was on it, I kept getting "friend suggestions". Unfortunately, the friend I added was from a contact during a century ride 100+ miles away. So, all the friend suggestions & networking was from the next major city to the north, and completely irrelevant.

And, since there wasn't a good non-public PM system (other than ride comments), the system wasn't good for sharing personal information.

Iride01 

If it's only an occasional ride that your friend wants you to see then maybe Strava has a share link that they can copy and send to you. Then you would not have to be a member, with all the "benefits" of being a free member as you've found out. RWGPS has that feature.

rsbob 

Interesting. While out riding, I ran into 3 people (not literally) and found out they are on Strava. This has happened in the last 6 months. I now chat back and forth with them using Comments and have gotten together to buy a Kicker from one and had a beer with another. Have also discovered people they know locally that I chat with and cross paths while out on rides thanks to Strava. Some good comraderie. Will be joining some of my friends “linked friends” on some group rides in the future.

Like anything, you get out of it what you put into it.

PedalingWalrus

Why would it be creepy? Is Your life a strung up movement between bunkers and closed shutters? Are You a secret agent or an assassin? :-)

A computer app figured out how to link your contacts and that's it. A Nothingburger.

If You walk into your local store and the clerk tells You that the mailman said You have a horse in a barn they find it cool... is that creepy too?

FWIW I find those lurkers who find all of this creepy but then spend hours per day browsing their friend's facebook profiles without saying a word. creepy...but I'm not losing any sleep over it .

ChrisWagner

Surveillance capitalismis an economic system centered around the commodification of personal data with the core purpose of profit-making.

> You are the product. Some say it threatens democracy.

MinnMan

Methinks this is just the tip of the iceberg for the OP, frankly.

Smartphones are surveillance devices unless you mind the settings, and even then....

Otherwise, yeah, the networked world is going to be creepy for you.

Or get used to it.

PedalingWalrus

Yeah. it's called social networks for a reason - everyone contributes and as a whole a community gets created that is only as valuable as the individual contributions. Not participating, lurking is antisocial ... not that there is anything wrong with that ... but just stay away from the internet please...the Amish have a wonderful life too - no big deal