throwawaystrava

I think it's really a shame that Strava is taking so much heat. The heatmap was a really cool visualization and also useful to find out where people are running and biking, generally. And, it was created from tracks that people willing uploaded and made public, even if they didn't fully understand the privacy implications.

But it's also frightening that this data, stored indefinitely, is effectively a mass surveillance system. I was contacted by local law enforcement who had gotten my email address from Strava via an "official legal process" because I had ridden my bike in an area around the time a homicide occurred.

Chew on that. The police or the government have access to your whereabouts, just because someone stored them.