- Strava closes the account of a runner who posted their activity in North Korea.
- Running in virtualised North Korea enough to earn enforced account closure.
- Strict T&Cs enforced beyond the letter of the law.
Users of the popular fitness-tracking app, Strava, need to be careful of where they exercise, and even where they pretend to exercise.
According to DC Rainmaker, a site that catalogues the owner’s runs, bike rides, and swims, one fitness fanatic has fallen foul of Strava’s Terms & Conditions. A keen ultra-marathon runner and YouTube channel owner had their Strava account locked by the company after posting details of a run she went on while visiting North Korea.
The individual affected lives outside North Korea, but is studying the country as part of her PhD thesis. During a recent visit to the country, she went for a run, and uploaded the activity once back in a country where there is access to the public internet, something that’s off-limits to the native North Korean populace.
After uploading the workout, she received a message from Strava stating her account had been terminated for violating the app’s T&Cs. According to a statement sent to DC Rainmaker from Strava, “In accordance with mandatory US sanctions and export controls, which prohibit the offering of online services to North Korea, Strava does not allow users to post activities occurring [in North Korea].”
In a later statement, the company added, “Strava’s controls are based on feedback from the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, and we take a broad, zero-tolerance approach.”
The steps taken by Strava are a stricter interpretation of the US Department of the Treasury’s rules than those of other technology companies: Google’s YouTube and various social media feeds show thousands of clips, images, and comments made in and concerned with North Korea.
The rigidity of Strava’s policies (and the automated nature of its algorithmic source-checking) is exemplified by another incident, in which a Strava user went running on a treadmill but merely used North Korea as a virtual environment. They too received a ban from the platform – one that was overturned quickly after the individual’s objection.
The code of conduct that users seem to be in violation of are the parts of US rules around the prevention of exports to North Korea. In the ultra-marathoner’s case, that’s a draconian interpretation of the use of a service not remotely associated with trade with the pariah state.
It’s worth noting that the run was recorded via a Garmin (not Strava) smartwatch. Although smartwatches are officially not allowed inside North Korea, the authorities there are known to turn a blind eye to their use – it is allegedly the presence of geo-location data gathering that is frowned on – and similarly-equipped smartphones are permitted in the country when in the possession of visitors.
Tourism in North Korea is strictly controlled and visitors are carefully shepherded during their state-sanctioned stays. Presumably, going out on a run while enjoying the local scenery is something that’s approved of by the country’s authorities, but termed unacceptable behaviour by the US-based Strava.
Strava has had its fair share of controversy in the past, having given away the location of secret US Army bases and let users see the routes taken by Israeli military personnel when out running. Its erring on the side of caution in the form of rigorous implementation of self-penned Terms & Conditions is, therefore, perhaps understandable, especially in the current political climate in the US, where big tech companies have been quick to side with the ruling executive‘s ideology.
(Image source: “running” by renoleon is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.)
