David Beckham has laid bare the lingering pain he felt he caused to his family following the red card he received at the 1998 World Cup, saying...

A new report claims that Strava could be used to track people down – despite the platform’s efforts to make their data anonymous. Strava is a fitness tracking platform that allows people to log their exercises as well as engage with other based on their workouts. But it also includes other tools, such as its heatmap feature, which is intended to anonymously gather together people’s journeys and show them on one map. The tool is intended to allow people to see which parts of the world are particularly active, which can be helpful for finding particularly good areas for workouts or trips. But it can also be used to find out people’s personal information, according to a new report. That heatmap data is anonymised, so that it shows more general trends and cannot be used to track specific people who might mark their routes private. But the new research suggests that it is possible to de-anonymise that data, at least in some cases, to work out who lives where. The paper, published by three computer science researchers at North Carolina State University, says that “the home address of highly active users in remote areas can be identified, violating Strava’s privacy claims and posing as a threat to user privacy”. They detailed a complicated process that they claimed was able to find addresses and then combine that with other data from Strava to find the home address of a certain individual. In short, they were able to use the heat map to identify locations where people lived, and then take other location data to work out who might live at that specific house. The attack will not work on everyone: they need to live in remote areas where people’s houses stand on their own, those users need to have the heat map setting switched on, and might run in patterns that do not identify their home addresses, for instance. But the researchers claimed that a significant number of users could be identified based on publicly available information on Strava. That is a “violation of user privacy”, the researchers said. And it could also pose a threat to those users, by allowing people’s addresses to be made public, and then matched to certain activities, such as when they work out or where they tend to travel. The researchers suggested two ways to avoid the attack. One would be to remove heat map data that is clearly near a home, and another would be to add Strava’s existing “privacy zones” tools that block out data from certain locations to its heat map, which is not currently the case. Strava said that it looks to ensure users’ data stays private, and suggested that people concerned about potential issues turn off the use of aggregated user data on their account. “The safety and privacy of our community is our highest priority. We’ve long had a suite of privacy controls (including Map Visibility Controls) that give users control over what they share and who it’s shared with,” the company said. “Strava does not track users or share data without their permission. When users share their aggregated, de-identified data with the Heatmap and Strava Metro, they contribute to a one-of-a-kind data set that helps urban planners as they develop better infrastructure for people on foot and bikes, and makes it easy to plan routes with the knowledge of the community. “The Global Heatmap displays aggregated data from a subset of Strava activities and will not show ‘heat’ unless multiple people have completed an activity in a given area. Any Strava user who does not wish to contribute to the Heatmap can toggle off the Aggregated Data Usage control to exclude all activities or default their Activity Visibility to be only to themselves (’Only You’) for any given activity. “We are consistently strengthening privacy tools and offering more feature education to give users control over their experience on Strava. This includes simplifying our Privacy Policy with our Privacy Label at the top.” Read More Breakthrough could soon allow us to actually use quantum computers, scientists say Three and Vodafone are merging. Here’s what that means for your phone McDonald’s, Delta among websites down after Amazon Web Services cloud crashes Breakthrough could soon allow us to actually use quantum computers, scientists say Three and Vodafone are merging. Here’s what that means for your phone McDonald’s, Delta among websites down after Amazon Web Services cloud crashes

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It’s no secret that pesky Gen Zers on social media love mocking their elders – in particular millennials. And for Iliza Shlesinger, a 40-year-old comedian, it’s time for them to stop. The performer is done with the younger generation picking apart millennial humour, skinny jeans and awful slang, and has taken to TikTok to speak her truth. On 13 November, she posted one of her standup performances, where she asked members of her live audience if any were Gen Z. A small cheer went up, and Shlesinger responded that they are not “so bold outside of a TikTok comment section”. She went on to recount some of the things Gen Zers have called millennials in recent years – “cheugy”, for example, which describes what they see as outdated fashion. But instead of going for all-out war, Shlesinger wants the enmity to stop, pointing out that both generations are at the mercy of the housing crisis, and that both lost out more than Gen X and boomers in the pandemic. She said: "You're angry, and I get that. We are angry too, but we have heartburn and our backs hurt, but we are right there with you." She added that the only reason the two generations are at loggerheads on TikTok is that they are the only two that use the app. It is “violence by proximity,” she said. The video went viral, with millions of views and thousands of comments, including many Gen Zers who said they completely understood millennials’ plight. One said: "It's the younger Gen Z that hates on millennials older Gen Z stands proudly with millennials." Another added: "Love you millennials!" Shlesinger summarised it neatly: "Never forget, we forged social media. Never forget that we walked on Instagram so you could run on TikTok." Never a truer word was spoken. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Petroleos Mexicanos’ losses deepened and production dropped, complicating the oil explorer’s efforts to whittle down its hefty debt

A teenage boy who survived a migrant boat sinking that left at least six people dead in the English Channel has been arrested has part of a probe into the incident. The Sudanese boy, aged 16 or 17, was rescued and taken back to France after the boat suffered engine damage and capsized. He is suspected of “activiely participating” in the crossing in exchange for reduced rate for his own passage to Britain, according to French authorities. He is among four people being detained as part of an investigation into the incident, with alleged offences including manslaughter and criminal association. The probe was announced as official figures showed another 444 people arrived in small boats on Wednesday, pushing the total for this year over 17,000. A pregnant woman and young children were among those rescued, as crossings surged just days after Saturday’s disaster. The teenager and another Sudanese man in his 20s were among 38 survivors who were taken to safety in France following the sinking. Twenty-three more were rescued and brought ashore in the UK. At least six people, thought to be Afghan refugees, died. Authorities fear other victims may have drowned but remain missing at sea. Two Iraqi men who were allegedly part of the smuggling network that organised the crossing have also been detained on French soil. The specialist Junalco organised crime unit, which leads major people smuggling investigations in France, said the sinking happened around 12 miles from the French coast on the night of 11 to 12 August. “Investigations at this stage have made it possible to establish that the makeshift boat had suffered engine damage and had torn at sea, when most of the passengers did not have life jackets,” a spokesperson said. “Almost all of [those on board] were of Afghan nationality and had passed through the ‘Jungle’ camp in Calais, before setting off from a beach further from the town.” A passing commercial ship saw the dinghy sinking and called the emergency services at around 4.20am local time (3.20am BST), authorities said, and several nearby ships were diverted to the area. A Navy tugboat, French rescue crew, two British rescue boats and helicopter were deployed to locate the boat, but several people were already in the water. One person was declared dead after being pulled from the sea and evacuated by helicopter to a hospital in Calais, while another five bodies were recovered. Searches continued into Saturday afternoon but no other people were found, and survivors’ accounts suggested others may have boarded the vessel in France. Junalco said it had made a request to British law enforcement for assistance with its ongoing investigation, following interviews of survivors in the UK. More than 50 people are thought to have drowned attempting to cross the Channel since 2018, while others have lost their lives attempting to board lorries and trains in France, or walk through the Channel Tunnel. On 10 August, several people were rescued from a sinking dinghy that had reached British waters. The RNLI said it pulled several people from the water but believed everyone was accounted for. The previous day, French authorities reported six children suffering from hypothermia had been taken to hospital after their boat went down off the coast near Sangatte. More than 17,200 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats so far this year, around 15 per cent down on the over 20,000 seen by the same point in 2022. Weeks of unseasonably windy weather and rough seas had suppressed crossings, but high numbers are expected if calm and fine conditions continue in the coming days. Prime minister Rishi Sunak has made “stopping the boats” one of his top five priorities ahead of the next general election, but government attempts to deter crossings have so far failed amid a lack of alternative safe and legal routes for asylum seekers. Afghans are now the most common nationality making the journey, following the collapse of resettlement schemes after the 2021 Taliban takeover. There has been an increase in Sudanese asylum seekers after conflict broke out earlier this year, and the government refused to set up a route for people fleeing the country. Read More Six dead and dozens rescued after migrant boat capsizes in Channel as search continues Sudanese refugees face deportation from UK as government fails to set up safe and legal routes Bibby Stockholm migrants won’t be back on barge ‘for weeks’ after Legionella scare Small boat arrivals continue as Channel crossings set to top 17,000 Ministers urged not to ‘abandon’ Afghans on anniversary of Taliban takeover Minister vows to make Afghan resettlement schemes ‘work properly’