Re:Did Strava copy its mobile route builder from another app?
by ctvo on Thursday February 28, 2019 @10:34AM
(#19272006)
What argument? That Strava's employees examined a competitor's app? A lot of apps are in trouble if this is considered bad behavior.
Strava didn't steal any code. They copied a feature's presentation and UX, right? I'm sure Snapchat re: Instagram would be highly interested if there was a legal or even moral issue here, especially when there's no patent protection.
Re:Did Strava copy its mobile route builder from another app?
by driverdan on Thursday February 28, 2019 @02:15PM
(#19274176)
> including the creation of 23 screenshots between 5:04pm and 7:25pm
Tracking screenshots is really creepy.
Re:Did Strava copy its mobile route builder from another app?
by ericrwolfe on Thursday February 28, 2019 @02:25PM
(#19274252)
Full disclosure: Footpath does currently collect an analytics event when a screenshot gesture is invoked (absolutely no screenshot data) to decide whether to present a share prompt, and it had the unintended side effect of revealing suspicious account activity. I've already updated the code to remove the event in the next release.
I'm happy to answer any questions about privacy and the data Footpath collects: https://footpathapp.com/privacy
Re:Did Strava copy its mobile route builder from another app?
by kylec on Friday March 01, 2019 @12:56AM
(#19278272)
Your privacy policy does not mention that you collect and store data on when users take screenshots
Re:Did Strava copy its mobile route builder from another app?
by strig on Thursday February 28, 2019 @02:29PM
(#19274289)
And publicly disclosing user screenshot counts and times is extra creepy.
Re:Did Strava copy its mobile route builder from another app?
by cannam on Thursday February 28, 2019 @02:55PM
(#19274489)
This was the most surprising part of the article for me. I had no idea an app publisher could tell when I had taken a screenshot.
(I don't use iOS myself; I assume if it's possible on iOS it's possible on Android as well?)
Re:Did Strava copy its mobile route builder from another app?
by bluetidepro on Thursday February 28, 2019 @10:49AM
(#19272149)
Off topic but "Strava’s corporate IP address" - How do people even figure that out? Maybe it's super obvious, but I'm not familiar? Can someone explain...
Re:Did Strava copy its mobile route builder from another app?
by ericrwolfe on Thursday February 28, 2019 @11:01AM
(#19272264)
Creator of Footpath here. I didn't know this was possible either until I looked up the suspicious IP from the logs: https://www.ip2location.com/demo/12.131.20.242
Re:Did Strava copy its mobile route builder from another app?
by jeremy7600 on Thursday February 28, 2019 @11:05AM
(#19272301)
I ask this sincerely: how much understanding of internet protocols did you have going into this project?
Re:Did Strava copy its mobile route builder from another app?
by ceejayoz on Thursday February 28, 2019 @11:32AM
(#19272559)
whois <ip address> will show you the owner of an IP.
Sometimes it'll trace back just to an ISP, or to something like AWS, but larger companies will often own their own block of IPs directly.
Re:Did Strava copy its mobile route builder from another app?
by bluetidepro on Thursday February 28, 2019 @01:06PM
(#19273466)
Ahhh, I guess that's why I got confused. Anytime I had run an IP check at previous/current jobs, I would always get back a generic ISP so you wouldn't see the company name. I hadn't ever been at a job that actually had their own block of IPs like that. That's what tripped me up. Makes more sense. So basically you can sometimes get to that info of who it is, and sometimes not.
>>Wolfe did some digging into Footpath’s server logs, to see whether staff at Strava had been using Footpath. They had.
“I discovered multiple accounts and dozens of routing requests originating from Strava’s corporate IP address starting in November — literally hours after the Product Hunt tweet about Footpath,” Wolfe said. “Digging even further, a good percentage of the requests occurred over a six-hour period on December 12th and 13th. Strava’s December ‘hackathon’ where they purportedly conceived the idea? Also right around this time.”
Footpath’s Application Programming Interface (API) logs, seen by CyclingTips, do indeed show multiple instances of Footpath API access from Strava HQ between October and December 2018. Four requests were made in the day following Product Hunt founder Ryan Hoover’s tweet tagging Strava. Several clusters of requests followed through November before a flurry of activity in December.
Footpath’s API logs show nearly two and a half hours of activity from a user at Strava HQ on December 12, including the creation of 23 screenshots between 5:04pm and 7:25pm. The logs also show continued access between 10:45am and 8:40pm the following day. Four further API requests were made from Strava HQ through January.