You can decide who you share things with (everyone, followers, no one), and also decide who can follow you. So it's not really too bad in that sense.
Of course, many, including me, have most public. It's needed to be on the public leaderboards ("segments"). But even then it's not live tracking publicly, and you can wait a few days to publish the activity if you're doing things abroad and are afraid it'll show people you're not home. (And I'd be more worried about Instagram etc in that aspect).
One cool feature, which unfortunately got severely nerfed due to privacy, was the fly-by. During your activity, you could see who else you met on the way. The cyclist blasting past us? Yeah, that was a semi pro, cool! Or during a race, could later see how everyone did in a cool visualization. The guy I biked next to for some kms and then lost track of, how did he end up?
But this could also be misused. Biked past a girl? Use fly-by to figure out who she is and stalk her. Could even upload fake activities to track everyone passing some spots etc.
Also, you could use Strava to figure out where people lived. And use that to targeted breakins for expensive cycle gear. However, now each activity will fuzz your start and end locations.
I feel Strava had taken privacy very seriously the later years. It's sad that it's needed, because some cool features aren't as usable anymore, but they've prioritized privacy.
Of course, many, including me, have most public. It's needed to be on the public leaderboards ("segments"). But even then it's not live tracking publicly, and you can wait a few days to publish the activity if you're doing things abroad and are afraid it'll show people you're not home. (And I'd be more worried about Instagram etc in that aspect).
One cool feature, which unfortunately got severely nerfed due to privacy, was the fly-by. During your activity, you could see who else you met on the way. The cyclist blasting past us? Yeah, that was a semi pro, cool! Or during a race, could later see how everyone did in a cool visualization. The guy I biked next to for some kms and then lost track of, how did he end up?
But this could also be misused. Biked past a girl? Use fly-by to figure out who she is and stalk her. Could even upload fake activities to track everyone passing some spots etc.
Also, you could use Strava to figure out where people lived. And use that to targeted breakins for expensive cycle gear. However, now each activity will fuzz your start and end locations.
I feel Strava had taken privacy very seriously the later years. It's sad that it's needed, because some cool features aren't as usable anymore, but they've prioritized privacy.