If you use Garmin/Strava, They're Watching

[fignon's barber]

Yesterday morning, after a ride I was coming down the local trail when I passed a person that used to do our training rides maybe five or six years ago. I literally passed in a split second. I thought to myself, "Hey, wasn't that XXXX, haven't seen in years". I had no idea of their real name. That night, I received a Facebook friend suggestion for, you guessed it, that person I passed on the trail. Zero mutual friends. I had my Garmin turned on when I was on the trail. Don't carry a phone, and the garmin was the only electronics with me (mechanical Ekar on bike). They are watching. Maybe I will start riding with a simple wrist watch.

[Talrand]

Do you get FB friend suggestions from every stranger you pass?

[prototoast]

It's more likely the person saw you, looked you up on Facebook, and that's what triggered the friend suggestion.

[vespasianus]

Originally Posted by fignon's barber

Yesterday morning, after a ride I was coming down the local trail when I passed a person that used to do our training rides maybe five or six years ago. I literally passed in a split second. I thought to myself, "Hey, wasn't that XXXX, haven't seen in years". I had no idea of their real name. That night, I received a Facebook friend suggestion for, you guessed it, that person I passed on the trail. Zero mutual friends. I had my Garmin turned on when I was on the trail. Don't carry a phone, and the garmin was the only electronics with me (mechanical Ekar on bike). They are watching. Maybe I will start riding with a simple wrist watch.

Did you have your phone with you?

[unterhausen]

Turn off flybys on Strava.

[trener1]

Originally Posted by unterhausen

Turn off flybys on Strava.

Yeah I was thinking the same thing.

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by prototoast

It's more likely the person saw you, looked you up on Facebook, and that's what triggered the friend suggestion.

yea, this.

[unterhausen]

I have no doubt that Meta is buying any data they can get from Strava. I'm not sure how the privacy agreement from strava plays into flybys.

I think I finally turned off the "feature" on my garmin that shared the name of any garmin user nearby. I recall on PBP it showed me a list of hundreds of riders nearby. I have had strangers call out my name when I passed by them, I wonder if that's what was going on.

[bigbill]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

yea, this.

I second the "yea, this."

[saab2000]

If we use modern electronics, banking, cellular, etc. we have no privacy. That said, we can set our settings to reduce nuisance things like this. My Strava is pretty locked down WRT privacy and I got rid of FB about 7 years ago. Went in and undid all my comments, likes, etc. I have no illusions that it’s truly gone, but it’s not going to be easy to find for a normal user. Likely the NSA could find it but not anyone here, unless they’re NSA.

Whenever we use anything connected to the internet we are compromised as far as privacy goes. Just ask Mark Robinson. Privacy is an illusion today.

[dmitrik4]

Do you have location services turned on on your phone? They don’t need your Garmin/Strava data: there are dozens of apps on your devices that track and share your location. Do you use a weather app? This is definitely not new stuff.

[BRad704]

Originally Posted by unterhausen

I have no doubt that Meta is buying any data they can get from Strava. I'm not sure how the privacy agreement from strava plays into flybys.

I think I finally turned off the "feature" on my garmin that shared the name of any garmin user nearby. I recall on PBP it showed me a list of hundreds of riders nearby. I have had strangers call out my name when I passed by them, I wonder if that's what was going on.

Wahoo does these real-time map names as well on your head unit. I hate it. Especially during huge events/fondos.

[shoota]

My vote is Flybys.