Out for a run – are you giving away more information than you bargained for?

Have you ever considered that the running app you downloaded to your phone could be showing people where you live?

We recently received a request from a client to serve paperwork at one of 5 properties on a street ………. the client did not know the exact house, but had narrowed it down to 1 of 5 and wanted us to knock each door to establish the correct address for their respondent……….where did they get this information? Through a running app!

In an age where people like to post all over social media about their achievements & lifestyle, many may not realise that posting your run or cycle data on a public forum may also be giving away your home address!

If you regularly start and finish your route from your home address, you are sharing this with people every time you share your accomplishment! When you share your run or cycle event on social media, it links to a map which shows the route you have taken. It also shows the start and end points of that route ……with a bit of ‘zooming in’ it is possible to determine your exact start and finish point……. is this outside your house?

More than that, repeatedly sharing your routes online, or allowing ‘followers’ in the app you use to capture this data, people can build up a picture of what routes you take, when you are likely to be on that route, when you are out, and exactly where you were at a given time.

Most of us wouldn’t dream of posting our home address all over our social media pages, but when sharing your run and cycle data, you could be doing just that!