• 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.)

The post Strava bans accounts featuring North Korean exercise appeared first on TechWire Asia.

The new functionality, which was launched last week with little fanfare, enables users to book and message hotels, restaurants, tours and sites.

Some hotel pages are equipped with a “Book Now” button for users to make instant bookings.

On top of that, users can also look for nearby WiFi spots, meet new people in the area, check the weather, find out which friends have visited the city you’re in, and offer a list of recommendations of sites to visit and things to do.

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Data on visits by the user’s friends is presumed to be extracted from check-in locations and Facebook posts, according to TechCrunch.

Facebook’s foray into travel planning could pose as competition to Google Trips, an app which acts as an on-the-go, in-your-pocket travel guide.

The app is synced to your Google account and the search engine will extract data from your inbox to repackage flight and trip information in the app.

A Facebook spokesman told The Next Web, “We’re testing a redesigned surface on city Pages that showcases information about your city. This content already exists on Facebook, and during this test, we’ll be centralizing it in a way that is more personalized and relevant to you.

SEE ALSO: 2 apps, 1.6 billion Muslims: How these startups are tapping the halal market

“This new feature can help people get a better sense of their city, or a city they’re visiting through their friends’ eyes.”

Presently, the app is not accessible to all Facebook users, and the social media giant looks to be testing the feature out with select users before rolling it out to its entire database.

This article originally appeared on Travel Wire Asia

The post Facebook explores travel market with introduction of ‘travel companion’ feature appeared first on TechWire Asia.

These were just some of the probing questions debated at the Second International Congress on Love and Sex with Robots held in London last week. The conference was moved from London to Malaysia earlier in the year after the Malaysian chief of police deemed the congress to be illegal.

The questions, as you might expect, were endless. And although the answers were, at this early stage of technology development, far from definitive, few were in dispute that sex, and even love, with robots will happen – and probably sooner than we expect.

Co-organizer of the conference, Professor Adrian David Cheok, who is Director of the Imagineering Institute in Malaysia, sat down with Tech Wire Asia to discuss what future opportunities humanoid robots might present the Asian technology sector and how human-like robots can change people’s lives.

SEE ALSO: Japan’s first VR porn festival cancelled because there were too many attendees

How far advanced is humanoid robotic technology at present?

A humanoid, artificial intelligent robot that we love and could have sex with – we don’t know when that is coming. Some people say next year, other people say it is much further down the line.

However, we are already seeing a lot of technology that is related. If you put the pieces together, such as electronic sex products for men and for women – and we are also seeing sex dolls without the robotics – it’s clear there are people investing and buying these products. You can see the trajectories are there.

What will be the key markets for humanoid robots?

Initially, maybe the market will be for people who are disadvantaged, such as disabled people, people who have problems such as autism and shyness.

Right now, a lot of people don’t have sex at all so for them it is better than no sex.

We might see smaller more niche markets at first, but then, as with any product – for example, only rich business people used mobile phones at first – it will come into the mainstream.

This conference was banned in Malaysia – do you think there will be an acceptance of this kind of technology all over Asia?

I am often surprised how open people in East Asia – japan, Korea, China – are to sex. A lot of people are using sex products and technology, so from the Asia perspective they are going to be at the very forefront.

It’s already happening. People are already playing games where they can have virtual relationships. There are reports of people falling in love with virtual characters – if they can do that I don’t think it is a very big step to fall in love with a robot. Japan are 1000 percent trying to make sex robots and technology.

SEE ALSO: Japan: Gatebox’s smart virtual reality ‘companion’ received mixed responses

But then, if you go to other parts of Asia, they are much more conservative, especially in Muslim countries, such as Malaysia where my lab is. We are very careful not to offend people.

Ultimately it is unstoppable because I believe people want this technology and I think, whether religion or government, it is going to happen sooner or later.

What about robots as a form of companionship?

We shouldn’t forget the love part. There are many different kinds of love – not just romantic or sexual.

There is a rapidly aging population. Maybe elderly people would like to have a pet dog but they can’t look after it, a robotic pet can be very beneficial.

Wouldn’t it be great if someone’s partner could survive as a robot? It would not be exactly the same, but if we could program the robot while their partner is alive then you have a love-robot, a companion. The love and companionship will be very important for the elderly population.

I think robots as companions can help a great deal of the population. They could increase society’s happiness.

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What do you want to see happen now in terms of the technology and from the investors?

There is a very big interest from academics on this topic, but what we need now are the investors – the companies who are going to make these products.

I think they are there but the problem is investors do not want to touch anything that is associated with sex – anywhere in the world. They are given a portfolio of money and if they are investing in sex they are scared because they don’t want people to protest. It’s the same as gambling – those things are considered sins of society.

However, there is a huge industry for pornographic material and sex aids – so who is putting the money into that? There is a community out there, it is just that they wouldn’t necessarily think of working with academia and vice versa.

Somehow this research topic has got to bring together two groups of people that have never worked together or conversed before. Maybe this conference will get the conversation going.

The post Will we really make love with robots? Yes, says Malaysia’s Prof. Adrian David Cheok appeared first on TechWire Asia.