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Aug 2

Using a fitness app taught me the scary truth about why privacy settings are a feminist issue – Quartz

Fitness Comments Off on Using a fitness app taught me the scary truth about why privacy settings are a feminist issue – Quartz

As a lifelong runner, Ive become adept at predicting the best times, routes, and strategies to jog in cities while avoiding street harassers. From circumventing stops at traffic lights to steadfastly avoiding eye contact with passersby, Ive adopted behaviors that are unfortunately standard practice for a lot of urban women. But recently, when using the social fitness tracking app Strava, I noticed a different kind of potential threatone I wasnt prepared for.

After Id completed my usual 5-kilometer loop near my London flat, a stranger I didnt know liked my workouteven though I had enabled stricter privacy settings, which I thought would shield my workouts from public view. This happened several more times while I jogged the same route, and then again when I was on vacation in Barcelona. Alarmed at the idea of that strangers could see the routes I run on two or three times a week, I embarked on an investigation into the privacy settings of Strava. What I learned wasnt reassuring for an urban womanor anyone concerned about location-based privacy.

It should be said that for many Strava users, the whole point of the app is to receive kudosStravas equivalent of an Instagram likefrom strangers. Indeed, for the (mostly male) users who dominate Stravas feature discussion forum, the public and granular nature of Stravas user data is what allows them to compare, compete, and quantify their performance with rigorous attention to detail. Tracking everything from speed and elevation to calories burned and personal records, Stravas users can see how they are progressing against their past performance, and compared to users who run or cycle the same routes.

This social aspect is appealing to me, too, but with a crucial caveat: I only want people who Ive allowed to follow me to see where I run. When youre a woman whose personal and digital space is invaded with alarming regularity, you think carefully about how your digital life intersects with your real oneespecially when the data youre sharing is quite literally close to your front door.

I soon learned that the first problem was my assumption that Enhanced Privacy on Strava meant that my data and running routes were viewable only to my approved followers. In fact, it means no such thing. Stravas Leaderboard function ranks the pace of all athletes who complete the same Segment, or a set distance on a given route that has been mapped by a user and added onto the app. Though I had Enhanced Privacy on, I hadnt enabled Hide from Leaderboards, which is a separate toggle on the privacy settings in the app.

This meant that if I ran a particularly fast 200-meter segment in the park, landing me temporarily on a Leaderboard, anyone who was examining that segment in the appwhether or not Ive allowed them to follow mecould see my workout that day. Troublingly, this also would allow them to see my first and last name and the photo attached to my profile.

With Leaderboards enabled (which is the default setting, even with Enhanced Privacy on), going for a run in the park is the opposite of private or anonymous. In effect, its like having a private Instagram accountand then finding your photos are viewable on Instagrams Explore page.

Failing to opt out of Leaderboards was admittedly my blunder. But from there, it seemed like there were an ever-increasing number of things I needed to opt out of to avoid strangers finding out my first and last name based on where I run. In the privacy settings, I needed to toggle on Group Activity Enhanced Privacy, so my data wouldnt be shared if I happened to run with other Strava users. I also needed to switch on Hide from FlyBys, which allows users to see other athletes (with picture and full name) they crossed paths with on a given route. Furthermore, if I chose to join a Challengefor example, run half marathon in August, which has more than 52,000 digital participantsthat data would be public no matter what. (Theres no disclaimer when you opt in, either.) This, as Stravas support told me, is in the interest of maintaining athletic and competitive integrity.

Strava communications lead Andrew Vontz noted that the three levels of privacy that Strava offerstotally public, the aforementioned Enhanced Privacy, and the Private by Default option, which strips the app of any social aspect whatsoeverare designed to balance protecting our members data but also creating a community that is engaging and social. But in practice, it feels like there are more like six levels. Even if all the above parameters are met, there is still a chance the specifics of a users run could be viewable publicly if, as Vontz said, youve shared it directly, shared it on other social media channels, or one of your followers has shared it in some way. It is also unlikely but possible that someone could find it through random sampling.

Its true that as a user, its my responsibility to know what Im opting into when I use a service, especially when its free. But the fact that it took me three rounds of emails with a support rep, a call with a Vontz, and a follow-up email round with him to fully understand how to prevent strangers from seeing my running routes is troubling. To borrow a phrase from English law, a man on a Clapham omnibusor an average ordinary and reasonable human beingwould likely not assume that their first and last name would be broadcast so indiscriminately despite having an apps enhanced privacy enabled.

Indeed, when I polled a few other female friends who use the app, they too were not aware of the need to opt out of Leaderboards or FlyBys to maintain total control over who can see their workouts. Women both online and in the support forum have also complained about random people following and giving kudos, as well as the concerning nature of FlyBys when it comes to revealing first and last names to strangers, often unbeknownst to the user.

Vontz stressed that Strava takes athlete privacy and safety very seriously, and its true the company has introduced other features to address the issue. In addition to their clever Privacy Zones featurewhich allows users to block out areas where workouts commonly begin and end, like home or officethe Beacon tool in their premium version will send live links of a users activity to chosen contacts. I understand that Strava is a social network as much as a fitness tracking tool, and they must balance those functions accordingly. But the multi-layered, opt-out heavy, and rather unclear nature of their settings still seems like a problem.

If you dont like something, you can opt out of it is something we hear a lot in the consumer-facing tech worldwhether its Facebook newsfeed spam, incessant push notifications, or location-tagged posts. The problem with this attitude is that it puts the onus on consumers to ensure that theyre being respected, and lets companies off the hookthe assumption being that they can bank on a good number of users being too lazy, confused, or negligent to opt out. Thats an unsustainable approach if companies want to retain the goodwill of their users. And in cases where privacy is a concern, it can be downright dangerous.

Learn how to write for Quartz Ideas. We welcome your comments at ideas@qz.com.

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Using a fitness app taught me the scary truth about why privacy settings are a feminist issue - Quartz

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