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Tinder had a similar problem where you could triangulate a user's location to within 100 feet. https://techcrunch.com/2014/02/20/problem-in-tinder-dating-app-l

Tinder had a similar problem where you could triangulate a user's location to within 100 feet. https://techcrunch.com/2014/02/20/problem-in-tinder-dating-app-leaked-user-locations/ https://techcrunch.com/2014/02/20/problem-in-tinder-dating-a...

flyingfences 6y ago
I read an account a few years ago of somebody using this "feature" during a military training exercise to find the "enemy" camps and call in simulated "artillery" strikes. The people on the receiving end got hopping mad and couldn't figure out how he kept finding them so quickly.
- badwolf 6y ago
  Similar account, but here's an article about Fitbit revealing soldiers/base information: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/a-map-showing-the-users-of-fitness-devices-lets-the-world-see-where-us-soldiers-are-and-what-they-are-doing/2018/01/28/86915662-0441-11e8-aa61-f3391373867e_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/a-map-showing-the-users...
  - brlewis 6y ago
    Hi. I work for Fitbit, but don't speak for Fitbit. I am, however, curious about how people on HN talk about Fitbit, so I subscribe to HNWatcher alerts. Unfortunately, I only got an alert about this comment a week later. If I did officially speak for Fitbit, this reply would be more diplomatic. Personally, I'm losing patience with this lie being casually repeated so many times. If you would even bother to read the article you yourself linked to, you'd see that it was Strava that revealed this information, not Fitbit. Fitbit's role in the story was to display the "Are you sure?" message when soldiers explicitly chose to share their Fitbit data with Strava. There is no excuse for saying Fitbit did the revealing. If you were serious about privacy and security, you'd be careful about accusing the right party.
- andylynch 6y ago
  Clever and fair game. A real opposing force would do the same given the chance.
  - flyingfences 6y ago
    Well, hopefully, the soldiers would not be carrying and using their personal cell phones in a situation with a real opposing force.
    - thaumasiotes 6y ago
      I mean, one important method of causing them not to do that is to deal them a humiliating series of losses in a wargame.
- nyanpasu64 6y ago
  I found a 4chan greentext story along these lines: https://www.reddit.com/r/Military/comments/9u2zib/the_proper_way_to_use_tinder_during_exercises/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Military/comments/9u2zib/the_proper...
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
pteraspidomorph 6y ago
A long time ago DeviantArt had a similar problem. If I remember correctly it allowed you to sort people by distance to you, or something like that. The feature was exploited in much the same way and they had to remove it.

flyingfences 6y ago

I read an account a few years ago of somebody using this "feature" during a military training exercise to find the "enemy" camps and call in simulated "artillery" strikes. The people on the receiving end got hopping mad and couldn't figure out how he kept finding them so quickly.

badwolf 6y ago
Similar account, but here's an article about Fitbit revealing soldiers/base information: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/a-map-showing-the-users-of-fitness-devices-lets-the-world-see-where-us-soldiers-are-and-what-they-are-doing/2018/01/28/86915662-0441-11e8-aa61-f3391373867e_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/a-map-showing-the-users...
- brlewis 6y ago
  Hi. I work for Fitbit, but don't speak for Fitbit. I am, however, curious about how people on HN talk about Fitbit, so I subscribe to HNWatcher alerts. Unfortunately, I only got an alert about this comment a week later. If I did officially speak for Fitbit, this reply would be more diplomatic. Personally, I'm losing patience with this lie being casually repeated so many times. If you would even bother to read the article you yourself linked to, you'd see that it was Strava that revealed this information, not Fitbit. Fitbit's role in the story was to display the "Are you sure?" message when soldiers explicitly chose to share their Fitbit data with Strava. There is no excuse for saying Fitbit did the revealing. If you were serious about privacy and security, you'd be careful about accusing the right party.
andylynch 6y ago
Clever and fair game. A real opposing force would do the same given the chance.
- flyingfences 6y ago
  Well, hopefully, the soldiers would not be carrying and using their personal cell phones in a situation with a real opposing force.
  - thaumasiotes 6y ago
    I mean, one important method of causing them not to do that is to deal them a humiliating series of losses in a wargame.
nyanpasu64 6y ago
I found a 4chan greentext story along these lines: https://www.reddit.com/r/Military/comments/9u2zib/the_proper_way_to_use_tinder_during_exercises/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Military/comments/9u2zib/the_proper...

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

pteraspidomorph 6y ago

A long time ago DeviantArt had a similar problem. If I remember correctly it allowed you to sort people by distance to you, or something like that. The feature was exploited in much the same way and they had to remove it.