A Russian commander was killed while jogging. Was he tracked through a fitness app?

Russian ex-navy commander Stanislav Rzhitsky was shot while jogging this week, and media has speculated his location may have been tracked through Strava.

A Russian military officer was shot dead during his morning jog. Russian media has speculated his location may have been tracked via the fitness app Strava.

KEY POINTS

Russian military officer Stanislav Rzhitsky was shot dead during a morning jog this week.
Russian media has speculated his location could have been tracked via the fitness app Strava.
Users can share data about their workouts on the app, including time, distance, and route summaries.
On Monday, Russian military officer Stanislav Rzhitsky was shot dead by an unknown assassin while he was on his morning run.

Rzhitsky had commanded a submarine in the Black Sea and appeared on a Ukrainian blacklist of alleged war criminals.

His address, picture and personal details had appeared on the Ukrainian website Myrotvorets (Peacemaker), a vast unofficial database of people considered to be enemies of Ukraine.

Russian media has speculated Rzhitsky’s location could have been tracked via the fitness app Strava, where he posted details of his regular jogging route in the city of Krasnodar and how long he took to complete it.

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Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency published details of the killing on its website, without claiming responsibility or saying how it obtained the information.

It said Rzhitsky died on the spot when seven shots were fired at him from a Makarov pistol as he was running in a deserted city park at around six in the morning.

Russia’s state Investigative Committee said on Tuesday it had arrested a suspect in his early 60s who was found in possession of a pistol and silencer.
What is Strava and is it safe?
Strava is an exercise app that allows users to track and share their workouts and is mostly used for cycling and running.

The app shares data about workouts, including time, distance, and route summaries, which are tracked via GPS.

It’s not the first time privacy concerns have been raised over the app.

In November 2017, Strava released a heat map of users’ activities over two years, which revealed the locations of United States military bases through soldiers recording their exercise routes.

Concerns have also been raised about whether route-sharing apps like Strava, Nike Run Club, or Garmin could aid in stalking or intimate partner violence.

In June this year, a report claimed Strava could also be used to identify home addresses of highly active users in remote areas.

Strava suggested users concerned about privacy could turn off aggregated user data features, and said it does not track or share data without permission.

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Other types of tracking apps, such as period or ovulation trackers, have also been the subject of privacy concerns.

Following the overturning of Roe v Wade in the United States, users began deleting period-tracking apps over concerns of online surveillance and apps potentially being used to incriminate women who had had abortions.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, contact-tracing apps were also released in some countries to try and curb infection rates.

Members of the public and tech commentators also raised concerns over whether these apps could put people at risk of stalking, identity theft, or privacy violations.

SBS