OnX hypocrisy

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Yoder

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The hypocrisy of some folks really amazes me sometimes.

I haven't been using OnX mainly because I didn't like having to pay for 3 different apps to get the same features in another app for a lot less money.

OnX Hunt Elite - $99yr
OnX Offroad - $35 or $99 per yr depending on subscription
OnX Backcountry - $30 or $99 per yr depending on subscription

I can get all those features in GAIA for $40 per year and it's all in one app. OnX is all marketing.
GIAIA is woke. They have a whole page dedicated to DIE. I'm sick of that garbage, it's destroying our country.
 

intunegp

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What is Eric Sigfried's associated with Cottonwood Outfitters? I can't find anything suggesting he owns them or is affiliated with them online.


So Cottonwood Outfitters got permitted to guide on 10,000+ acres and leased some bordering private parcels. Do their leases completely landlock the public land they're permitted on?
 
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Not to restate the obvious, but you mean v. stand-alone GPS units, right? Again, luddite - tech and I aren't friends. Something like a Garmin Montana, there's no similar danger as with a smart phone app like On X?
Correct to a degree as it would need some mechanism to get the data to Garmin.

I know my old Garmin unit came with software to install on my laptop. This allowed me to update the GPS (ex: newer maps), manage waypoints, etc. But it's naive to believe that there was no data being slurped up by Garmin to some extent.

From a pure surveillance perspective, we have zero privacy and it is not the government. Damn near everything spies on you and sends the data somewhere to be reviewed, sold, aggregated, etc. No government is as effecting at spying on its populace that businesses whose customers want convenience.

Lots of applications, both on phones and computers, can theoretically be configured to not send data. But when you look at actual traffic, often times those settings are an illusion as data is still being exfiltrated out despite the settings.
 

CorbLand

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From a pure surveillance perspective, we have zero privacy and it is not the government. Damn near everything spies on you and sends the data somewhere to be reviewed, sold, aggregated, etc. No government is as effecting at spying on its populace that businesses whose customers want convenience.
Been saying it for years, everyone is so worried about the Government spying on them (rightfully so) they turned a blind eye to private companies. Private companies are far more effective at it than the Government could ever be too.
 
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As technology becomes essential to everyday life (I.e. internet and smart phones to access essential services), the government has a role to regulate that market to protect citizens from exploitation (what capitalism does best).

Technology has outpaced legislation in many ways. This is one of many instances.

Being able to simply wake up, go to school and get a job for 99.999% of our population requires the use of internet and smart devices in 2023. That shouldn't automatically require every citizen to relinquish the right to their personhood. At least not for free.

When the various levels of governments are some of the biggest benefactors of the private collection of data, do not expect them to come "save" you as it is not in their best interest to do so. Remember these various levels of government constantly go to the private market to get information to bypass your Constitutional rights. Why get a warrant when you can ask for or just buy the information that you desire? It's just as admissible without the Constitutional headache.

COVID and the corresponding massive increase in work-from-home led to arguably the largest increase in unwanted spying in history. Schools and employers (government, private for profit, private non-profit) all leveraged an assortment of monitoring capabilities (often with traditional telltale indicators disabled - think video camera light) to make sure their computing assets were not lost or stolen but to also ensure that their employees/students were doing what they were supposed to be doing. This level of monitoring was not limited to business hours. And all that data went to an assortment of entities (and their business partners and their business parters...) that do not have your best interests in mind.

This will detail the OP's post so I will stop here.
 
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Been saying it for years, everyone is so worried about the Government spying on them (rightfully so) they turned a blind eye to private companies. Private companies are far more effective at it than the Government could ever be too.
Lots of studies out there that people want convenience (or candy) and will give up anything for it.
 

taskswap

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I want to say that I have ZERO evidence of any kind of OnX or any other company doing what I'm about to discuss. But it's worth noting and pondering on the fact that they "can" see every data point and track you make, if they want to. If you mark where you take an elk or see sign, they know it. None of it is client-side-encrypted, and companies like this can data-mine it to their heart's content, for almost any purpose. One of those purposes could be to identify areas just like this - where senior leaders might take a property interest because it's unusually popular or productive.

There are forum rules here about sharing GMU numbers publicly. But how many folks here are just openly sharing with these app vendors all their hard-won scouting and hunt data that they would consider highly secret in most cases. I suspect a lot of folks haven't given a lot of thought to what app vendors like this might do with this data...
 

taskswap

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Best alternative app/map system?
If you're on Android, Locus Pro is excellent. It's like $4.99 for the pro version of the app (not yearly, it's a one time fee) and a few dollars here and there depending on what you download for offline use. It's not as strong on satellite views but that doesn't affect me because I usually plan all that out on my computer before my trips. It's VERY good about track and point management and has some neat tricks like showing extensive stats about a hike you just took, or showing "distance/bearing" guides to points you have set to go to.
 
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