In a piece for readwrite, Matt Asay writes about his concerns that the tool he uses to track his exercise miles is now selling data to governments to help urban planners understand how and where cyclists use public streets. In the U.S., the state of Oregon is reportedly paying Strava Metro $20,000 to use the data for a year, and a number of other municipalities have made similar deals, including London and Glasgow in the UK and Victoria, Australia. The question here is “who owns the data in the first place,” Asay writes, and the question extends beyond simply consumer-oriented apps.
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