时间：2024-09-23 08:30:05 来源：American news

Your fitness tracker knows too much about you.

Where you jog, where you work, and, yes, where you sleep — all this and more is collected, aggregated, and analyzed by the companies behind the exercise apps on your smartphone and the devices you strap to your body. And that's a problem.

Just how bigof a problem was brought into stark relief Monday, when a Twitter user pointed out that the Strava global heatmap — an online, interactive map of activity by people who use the Strava mobile app or have a Fitbit or Jawbone — inadvertently revealed the location of military bases overseas. To make matters worse, Wiredreported it's also possible to take data publicly available via Strava's API and see the names of individuals tied to specific running routes.

SEE ALSO:When it comes to online security, being paranoid is no longer enough

This is obviously a concern for the armed services --in fact, today the U.S. military announced it would revise its rules on the use of wearable devices. But what about for you? Assuming you're not deployed, and instead use your Fitbit to count the steps to and from your desk, do you really have anything to worry about?

The answer is most definitely yes.

Let's zoom in.Credit: strava

The privacy red flags fall into two categories: the known and the speculative. The former are obvious, and present some troubling problems immediately. If your power-walking route is broadcast online without your knowledge, and is able to be tied to your real-world identity, it opens you up to a real-world version of the harassment many people are forced to confront online.

Mashable Top StoriesStay connected with the hottest stories of the day and the latest entertainment news.Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletterBy signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Thanks for signing up!

Suddenly, your attempt to simply lose a few pounds means stalkers or trolls can determine both your running routine and the location of your home. It also means a jilted ex who happened to remember your favorite cycling spots could track down your new home address.

This is recipe for disaster.

"We kill people based on metadata."

But it's the aforementioned speculative concerns that present the larger question of what it means to live in a data-rich society, and how the act of thoughtlessly contributing granular location data to for-profit corporations might one day be turned against you.

What machine learning and AI will someday be able to glean about us using only information similar to that contained within the heatmap is unknown, but associate professor at UNC's School of Information and Library Science Zeynep Tufekci — the self-styled "technosociologist" who called out the potential dangers posed by Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter before pretty much anyone else — thinks we should be very, very careful.

Tweet may have been deleted

And Tufekci's not the only one. Adam Harvey, perhaps best known for creating CV Dazzle and Hyperface, pointed out that the digital traces we leave online via fitness tracking apps like Strava give others power over us.

Tweet may have been deleted

After all, as former Director of the National Security Agency Michael Hayden reminded us in 2014, "We kill people based on metadata."

While the U.S. government is likely not about to drone you (although, who knows), there exist other threats to your privacy — both present and future — that are only exacerbated by apps like Strava and devices like Fitbit. And sure, you can denote your runs as "private" on the aforementioned app, but even having done that, your data is still being uploaded to Strava's servers — it's just not actively shared with every creep who decides to poke around publicly available datasets like the heatmap.

Of course, you don't have to participate. For starters, try deleting the Strava app from your smartphone or tossing that Fitbit in your drawer and leaving it there. Your fitness tracker won't know too much about you when it's in a landfill.

---

Featured Video For You

---

Here's how someone can track your location for $1,000

---

上一篇：海丰芥蓝入选全国名特优新农产品名录
下一篇：Tesla issues recall for 9,100 Model X cars

• ·高温难耐，工会驿站化身“清凉小屋”
• ·“卷”起来！新疆“网红局长”贺娇龙为新会陈皮点赞
• ·家园更美丽 百姓更幸福
• ·家园更美丽 百姓更幸福
• ·Against All Odds: How Netflix Made It
• ·家园更美丽 百姓更幸福
• ·佛冈水头创建全省一流中医药特色卫生院，打造“带不走的医疗队”
• ·在古村唱古风,#广东乡村歌手大赛 海选赛的这位宝妈真的#泰酷辣
• ·高燃！哨响表停赛不止，2024广东“村BA”开赛在即，一分钟带你重温高光瞬间。
• ·创新农产品零售模式 让优质农产品进城
• ·紫金蝉茶“晋”中原，馥郁蜜香广获赞
• ·农业产业发展 要以质量拓宽销路
• ·First officially approved Gen IV nuclear reactor in the US breaks ground
• ·梅州组团参赛！红荔奖“品牌之城”之争再添强力竞争者
• ·梅州组团参赛！红荔奖“品牌之城”之争再添强力竞争者
• ·雅安健儿在四川省第十三届运动会上连获佳绩