I recently got a Pixel and installed GrapheneOS on it. I would like to add some places to the map. Is there anything I need to know regarding preserving my privacy while contributing?
Thank you for any advice.
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As others have said, you can probably best keep anonymous by setting up an account separate from any other online identity. You can help contribute to random areas, and a lot of people do. Of course it is more valuable to you and to the community to edit near where you live, but yes, there is a certain amount of ability to identify someone’s locality based on their edits.
I’m very privacy conscious so I’m careful what I ask/share in this and other online spaces so that it would be difficult to connect.
My home area is well mapped, I travel to a few other places both for work a pleasure that are not. That’s where I would like to add data for anyone else interested.
I keep my identities separate for everything I do online. Thank you
Every edit will have your username on it. If you edit a lot in certain areas, one might guess that you live/work around there. Other than that, I doubt there are any such considerations.
Some apps allow uploading photos when making a note. These services may not clear some of the metadata, though geolocation is already obvious from the note itself.
Thank you. I would be changing my username regularly and posting at random times.
@Cheradenine @Tyoda @openstreetmap
I don’t think that changes your underlying account ID.
Whatever you do you need to make sure that you are contactable through the email address(es) you supply. If there is a problem with some of your edits and you don’t reply to queries you may have your account(s) blocked and all your edits reverted.
Would it be better to maintain the username but just make it something that you don’t use anywhere else? I don’t know the wider OSM community, but I assumed it was similar to contributing on Wikipedia where reputation is helpful.
Posting at random times could help, as well as gathering a lot of data and contributing it at one time
I don’t think that’s good etiquette in such communities. I realize the privacy concerns, but what if someone wants to message you about your edits?
Not editing around such sensitive areas is a better choice IMO. Hopefully someone else will.
That’s good to know, like I said, I’m new. Do people often message about edits?
Yes, changeset comments are more common than messages though. They are public comments. You can see all of them worldwide here: https://resultmaps.neis-one.org/osm-discussions You can see in the last week 1300+ comments were made
I review edits in my area made by new contributors frequently, write to them if their was some error, help them fix it, or if it’s too complex for them I fix it etc. There are tools for that, e.g. osmcha flags suspicious edits.
Please also sign up with an email address you actually read. If you don’t answer to changeset comments for a long time DWG (Data WorkingGroup) will block you.
Changeing username frequently doesn’t help anything. You have a hidden user id you can’t change, so tools can list all your previous usernames, even though it’s not visible on the main UI.
Thank you, I will read email. I will setup a dedicated address for it.
I am still trying to understand how this all works in general, and how I can maintain privacy at the same time.
What is your attack vector, what type of tracking or privacy violations are you afraid of? I’m really curious.
The number of osm contributors are too small to someone start to track your edits for some nefarious reasons, targeted advertizing.
Email aliases are usually more convinient for this type of usage, basically it will be a read only address, you won’t have to send anything from there.
Only to minimize tracking. I’ve never used Facebook, Twitter, or had a Google account. I would rather give them as little as possible.
I am relatively new as well. Someone asked for some clarification on an edit I made, and it turned out I had made a mistake.
In addition, if you leave notes, those may go without interaction for a long time. Although it is true that notes can be resolved without any further input from the original account.
I believe I could then use different usernames as long as I kept the original email addresses active.
Changing your username does nothing, because you have a unique, unchanging user ID. Just use something you don’s use anywhere else. Reputation is important in collaborative projects. You want to be known as a member that knows what they’re doing, and then you can be as anonymous as you like.
Graheneos has a setting to strip metadata on photos.
Your contributions are public
I understand that, but in what way? I know I need to sign up, but I will be using a screen name. Is there anything that would tie me to edits, assuming I upload them randomly?
Make sure your first edit isn’t your home address for sure. If you just upload places you go to and your neighborhood someone could tie that to you
https://f-droid.org/packages/net.sourceforge.opencamera/
if you don’t want to use the default photo app that leaks information, open camera would help with your notes
https://f-droid.org/packages/de.westnordost.streetcomplete/
👆makes contribution easier
I like contributing with StreetComplete on mobile. You could look into what kind of data it sends along with your contribution :)
I have installed that, but not yet opened it. I will look at my firewall logs when I do. Thanks
@Cheradenine If needed, you could try to find someone living elsewhere and share an account
I just had a thought - you could pick out 3-4 fixed areas that need a lot of edits and alternate between them. Then your location would be somewhat obscured. You can do a lot of good work with satellite imagery and public records. Plus if you ever end up visiting, you’ll really know your way around!
