Drift Diary: An app for Continuous Cruisers to log and prove their distance travelled

[rusty69]

Just now, IanD said:

Huh? Both are apps downloaded from Google Play, like all other apps secure and otherwise. What they do with the data is nothing to do with Google...

If he downloaded the victron app from the play store. 

[magnetman]

 

Wasn't rusty referring to the use of google maps in the drift diary app?

[IanD]

5 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Well the whole point of the drift diary appears to be uploading geotagged photos. Victron will probably just be using the data for identification of unexpected markets. 

 

I don't upload pictures of my boat to Victron. 

 

Geotagging (metadata or whatever) is quite a dodgy subject to get into in terms of privacy. 

 

 

What nefarious purpose do you thing CART would do with your uploaded photos? One would hope they already know what your boat looks like so they can identify it without a visible license or reg. no. ... 😉

 

2 minutes ago, magnetman said:

 

Wasn't rusty referring to the use of google maps in the drift diary app?

 

Does it use Google Maps? It certainly doesn't need to, there are many other sources of mapping data -- and it doesn't look like Google Maps in the picture...

Edited July 31, 2023 by IanD

[magnetman]

2 minutes ago, IanD said:

 

What nefarious purpose do you thing CART would do with your uploaded photos? One would hope they already know what your boat looks like so they can identify it without a visible license or reg. no. ... 😉

 

I think the CRT might start charging people more money if they look like they are having a Good Time. You could even get policing of boat condition from AI inspection the images.

 

All sorts of terrible things could happen. 

 

 

[IanD]

6 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

If he downloaded the victron app from the play store. 

Where else would it have come from? Most phones don't allow sideloading, and AFAIK Victron only use the verified app stores (Apple and Google) for their apps...

Edited July 31, 2023 by IanD

[magnetman]

It was from google market / play store. 

[rusty69]

Just now, IanD said:

Where else would it have come from? Most phones don't allow sideloading, and AFAIK Victron only use the app stores (Apple and Google) for their apps...

Apk on Victron site? 

Just now, magnetman said:

It was from google market / play store. 

They have you now. 

[magnetman]

I just think Aldous Huxley was right. We have to be careful about the devices. 

[IanD]

1 minute ago, magnetman said:

I just think Aldous Huxley was right. We have to be careful about the devices. 

What device/app are you reading CWDF on? Where did you get the program/app from? How do you know it's not spying on you *right now* ?

 

There's an awful lot of tin-hattery going on about this... 😉

Edited July 31, 2023 by IanD

[magnetman]

Xiaomi Redmi 8A. 

 

Chinese thing. They are watching via the front camera and analysing my facial expressions using AI. 

 

All this data is used by the Big System. 

 

 

 

[IanD]

Just now, magnetman said:

Xiaomi Redmi 8A. 

 

Chinese thing. They are watching via the front camera and analysing my facial expressions using AI. 

 

All this data is used by the Big System. 

 

 

Wow, you ought to be *far* more worried about your phone spying on you than an app like Drift Diary -- I'd throw it in the cut immediately if I was you... 😉

[rusty69]

Raffia hat is a fantastic disguise in these situations 

[IanD]

@Tasemu I suggest you make it clear where the location data goes and how it's used, preferably not near anything owned by Google going by some posts on here... 😉

 

And do persevere, it sounds like an excellent idea 🙂

Edited July 31, 2023 by IanD

[magnetman]

3 minutes ago, IanD said:

 

Wow, you ought to be *far* more worried about your phone spying on you than an app like Drift Diary -- I'd throw it in the cut immediately if I was you... 😉

The waterways are full of my phones.

[IanD]

1 minute ago, magnetman said:

The waterways are full of my phones.

You should get a waterproof non-Chinese one then... 😉

[magnetman]

I tried that and threw it in a 24ft deep part of the Thames. 

[rusty69]

20 minutes ago, magnetman said:

 

Wasn't rusty referring to the use of google maps in the drift diary app?

No

[IanD]

3 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

No

So what were you referring to?

 

There are loads of secure apps in the Google and Apple stores including for things like banking (and the Victron app) which keep your data secure. Why would this one be any different?

 

To quote from the very first post:

 

"Your privacy and data are important, so rest assured, the data collected is yours and yours only, also this app will be, and will remain free for all."

Edited July 31, 2023 by IanD

[rusty69]

1 minute ago, IanD said:

So what were you referring to?

 

There are loads of secure apps in the Google and Apple stores including for things like banking which keep your data secure. Why would this one be any different?

I was suggesting he may have not trusted Google enough to get his victron app from the play store, but it appears I was wrong. 

[IanD]

Just now, rusty69 said:

I was suggesting he may have not trusted Google enough to get his victron app from the play store, but it appears I was wrong. 

Ah, it seemed you were implying that the Drift Diary data could be seen by Google and used for nefarious purposes... 😉

[Mike Todd]

1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

That doesn't seem to be the case at the moment with boaters posting on FB they have been put on a 6 month licence with no discussion. It could be of course the boaters in question don't engage with CRT to discuss.

I have only heard cases where there was prior contact. I think that most boaters,  at the the moment, readily accept that they gave not complied but debate what they are expected to do. Given that the range requirement is pretty small, almost all cases,  I suspect, fall into one of two categories:

 

Firstly, there are those who make some movement but either through inattention or circumstance,  dont do as much as required. In this case, the 6 month licence is the incentive to be more active, but only by a small amount. It us doable without much of a lifestyle change. 

 

Secondly,  those big in the above, rarely move at all and are not really concerned to comply. For them, it is a large scale change of approach and outlook that is needed.  Their case is often made harder by the fact that there are plenty of boaters, some with families, who make the effort to comply. 

 

Whilst I am always biased towards a good technical solution to a problem I think you are overthinking this one and the number of really disputed and disputable cases  is vanishingly small. It would also end up being much more expensive than you suggest especially as it would have to be much more widely adopted than you imagine. Like insurance  when you need it, it is too late to start! A system that would meet commercial standards that would be evidential would be costly and, up front, be  an unwelcome addition to CaRTs budget. What would be also unwelcome would be to mandate it for all boaters.

[David Mack]

20 minutes ago, magnetman said:

 

Chinese thing. They are watching via the front camera and analysing my facial expressions using AI.

Well Mark Zuckerberg tapes over his laptop camera and microphone, and he ought to have a better idea than most where the data might go.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/22/mark-zuckerberg-tape-webcam-microphone-facebook

[rusty69]

5 minutes ago, IanD said:

Ah, it seemed you were implying that the Drift Diary data could be seen by Google and used for nefarious purposes... 😉

No. I was implying that is what MM might think. 

[Tasemu]

Currently i store the data on firebase, i see no major issue with this though nor do i scoff at people who might. I try to use the bare minimum required information to make the app work, emails don't need to be verified. I'm not sure what google or anyone else would want with geotagged boat pictures, and i imagine if anyone has online backups on their phone, like many smart phones do, they probably already have them. If there is a real desire for it i could beef up the encryption... I just don't see how valuable the data would realistically be. 🤔

[magnetman]

Martians might use it.