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FTC Settlement with Fertility-Tracking App for Facebook/Google SDK Data Sharing

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Re: FTC Settlement with Fertility-Tracking App for Facebook/Google SDK Data Sharing

#41

Post by elliekelly »

saagarjha wrote: post #36
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worth pointing out that traditional data brokers are able to track menstrual cycles based on purchase activity. Nobody can opt out of this and it's been going on for a few decades. It can be used for ad targeting by presenting the target with the optimal content for each week.

How does this work? Is it that women change their general purchase habits around that time, or that they buy specific products?

I would imagine women who are buying menstrual products are very likely either about to begin their period or are in the midst of it. Also, things like midol are probably strong indicators.

Re: FTC Settlement with Fertility-Tracking App for Facebook/Google SDK Data Sharing

#42

Post by amptorn »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #25
philsnow wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is one of the most egregious abuses of privacy imagineable. For people who haven't used these kinds of apps, Flo includes day-by-day tracking of: - sex and sex drive - didn't have sex - protected sex - unprotected sex - high sex drive - masturbation - mood: - calm - happy - [...] - sad - depressed - obsessive thoughts - apathetic - very self-critical - symptoms (cramps, tender breasts, acne, many more) - vagin…

It's worth pointing out that traditional data brokers are able to track menstrual cycles based on purchase activity. Nobody can opt out of this and it's been going on for a few decades. It can be used for ad targeting by presenting the target with the optimal content for each week.

Why is that worth pointing out?

Re: FTC Settlement with Fertility-Tracking App for Facebook/Google SDK Data Sharing

#43

Post by hombre_fatal »

ndiscussion wrote: post #4

To quote a dead comment: "Am I missing something, or are they really being let off with less than a slap on the wrist, and no fines? Not really sending a great message here, FTC." Agreed. This is one of the most egregious abuses of privacy imagineable.

I don't see how it's worse than the ubiquitous data brokers built into our society like the private credit bureaus that charge you to access your own data which has a de facto green light from us and our government.

It would be inconsistent to punish this little app severely when we don't care about much more egregious violations. It's tragic that we're only able to care about small things that fit into our tiny laser beam of public outrage.

Re: FTC Settlement with Fertility-Tracking App for Facebook/Google SDK Data Sharing

#44

Post by gameswithgo »

zinekeller wrote: post #14
ndiscussion wrote: post #4

To quote a dead comment: "Am I missing something, or are they really being let off with less than a slap on the wrist, and no fines? Not really sending a great message here, FTC." Agreed. This is one of the most egregious abuses of privacy imagineable.

I do get with the frustration, but with the current state of US (federal) laws it is probably the best remedy available now (unlike GDPR where you can really go and score larger fines and even jail time if it is grossly negligent or intentional).

management could be jailed for fraud.

it is the usual thing where the powerful we say “best we could do” but for the weak we find a way to get them in jail if we don’t like them

Re: FTC Settlement with Fertility-Tracking App for Facebook/Google SDK Data Sharing

#45

Post by marketingtech »

Cd00d wrote: post #5

I'm curious if anyone has insight into the value of this kind of data. I work with alternative data for investors, mostly consumer spend behavior - things like point of sale transactions and online cart contents. These have value in that you can correlate panel behaviors with a company's revenue or identify trends in the market. But, for data like ovulation schedules or events like pregnancy, it seems that it's a lot…

Facebook and Google do not pay for this data. Flo sends it to them for free, because it improves the performance/ROI of Flo's marketing.

Facebook and Google have no semantic understanding of this data, so it does not have inherent value to them in terms of creating configurable targeting segments. These are arbitrary data points sent by the app, and they might as well be labeled "A", "B", "C", and "D" rather than their sensitive names.

Flo can optimize their ads towards occurrences of event "A" or they can run ads towards "people who have triggered event B in the last week but not event C", but this doesn't offer specific value to other advertisers or FB/G themselves.

That said, when all of this is put into an ML black box, you never know how data points may be correlated. Maybe the system learns that people who trigger event "D" also end up buying baby clothes. That could lead to observable ad patterns, even if no one can explicitly tie event "D" to pregnancy.

Re: FTC Settlement with Fertility-Tracking App for Facebook/Google SDK Data Sharing

#46

Post by taneq »

core-e wrote: post #18
Cd00d wrote: post #5

I'm curious if anyone has insight into the value of this kind of data. I work with alternative data for investors, mostly consumer spend behavior - things like point of sale transactions and online cart contents. These have value in that you can correlate panel behaviors with a company's revenue or identify trends in the market. But, for data like ovulation schedules or events like pregnancy, it seems that it's a lot…

At a minimum the last few on the mood list (depressed obsessive thoughts, apathetic, very self-critical) seem like great indicators of when someone might be the most receptive to advertising for SSRIs.

The fact that you can advertise these things at all is kind of shocking to me. I’d expect psychiatric drugs to be prescribed by a psychiatrist on their medicinal merits rather than purchased on an advertising-driven whim.

Re: FTC Settlement with Fertility-Tracking App for Facebook/Google SDK Data Sharing

#48

Post by SilasX »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #25
philsnow wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is one of the most egregious abuses of privacy imagineable. For people who haven't used these kinds of apps, Flo includes day-by-day tracking of: - sex and sex drive - didn't have sex - protected sex - unprotected sex - high sex drive - masturbation - mood: - calm - happy - [...] - sad - depressed - obsessive thoughts - apathetic - very self-critical - symptoms (cramps, tender breasts, acne, many more) - vagin…

It's worth pointing out that traditional data brokers are able to track menstrual cycles based on purchase activity. Nobody can opt out of this and it's been going on for a few decades. It can be used for ad targeting by presenting the target with the optimal content for each week.

Yes, there was this study about clothing purchase correlation:

https://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/05/women-buy-sexier-c...

Re: FTC Settlement with Fertility-Tracking App for Facebook/Google SDK Data Sharing

#49

Post by trollski »

zinekeller wrote: post #14
ndiscussion wrote: post #4

To quote a dead comment: "Am I missing something, or are they really being let off with less than a slap on the wrist, and no fines? Not really sending a great message here, FTC." Agreed. This is one of the most egregious abuses of privacy imagineable.

I do get with the frustration, but with the current state of US (federal) laws it is probably the best remedy available now (unlike GDPR where you can really go and score larger fines and even jail time if it is grossly negligent or intentional).

i get the frustration.

no you dont

Re: FTC Settlement with Fertility-Tracking App for Facebook/Google SDK Data Sharing

#50

Post by klyrs »

taneq wrote: post #46
core-e wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At a minimum the last few on the mood list (depressed obsessive thoughts, apathetic, very self-critical) seem like great indicators of when someone might be the most receptive to advertising for SSRIs.

The fact that you can advertise these things at all is kind of shocking to me. I’d expect psychiatric drugs to be prescribed by a psychiatrist on their medicinal merits rather than purchased on an advertising-driven whim.

Wait til you learn how they advertise drugs to your psychiatrist!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/01/30/stripper-...

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