If you were worried about Russia hacking elections...
… just stop one moment to appreciate this article, and realize what its real title may (or should?) be:
“Fitness tracking app Strava gives away location of secret US army bases”
because “Data about exercise routes shared online by soldiers can be used to pinpoint overseas facilities”.
Here is an alternative, equally valid title for that article:
“All centralized social networks can be very big security leaks”
Subtitle:
“Fitness tracking app shows how easy it would be, for any foreign power, to corrupt just one person in ANY big social network, in order to have real time location data of military personnel”.
That problem is the result of human nature combined with centralized digital platforms. Fixing human nature (assuming it were right, of course) is almost impossible. Fixing centralized platforms is much easier, but only in comparison! The real solution is making centralized platforms unneeded.
Some decades ago, DARPA contributed to develop the bases of the Internet, and did it also for military reasons. Maybe it’s time that, for the same reasons, they seriously sponsor really personal clouds instead. Even if such a support would not make their NSA cousins really happy.
Who writes this, why, and how to help
I am Marco Fioretti, tech writer and aspiring polymath doing human-digital research and popularization.
I do it because YOUR civil rights and the quality of YOUR life depend every year more on how software is used AROUND you.
To this end, I have already shared more than a million words on this blog, without any paywall or user tracking, and am sharing the next million through a newsletter, also without any paywall.
The more direct support I get, the more I can continue to inform for free parents, teachers, decision makers, and everybody else who should know more stuff like this. You can support me with paid subscriptions to my newsletter, donations via PayPal (mfioretti@nexaima.net) or LiberaPay, or in any of the other ways listed here.THANKS for your support!