Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The privacy problems hidden in your period tracker

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 73 posts

Re: The privacy problems hidden in your period tracker

#51

Post by Terr_ »

SoftTalker wrote: post #46

I would never trust any private health data to an app. I don't care what promises or claims they make. The technology is fundamentally untrustable, and even if a vendor is doing the right thing today, they (or any intermediary) could change tomorrow.

> they (or any intermediary) could change tomorrow.

Adding to this, my understanding (IANAL) is that any promises to delete or limit sharing of your data could be swept-aside by a bankruptcy judge, putting priority on liquidating the company and its assets for the maximum amount of money for creditors.

If well-intentioned operators erase your data before the company falls into the hands of the trustee or creditors, an unsympathetic legal-system could end up charging them with crimes for it.

Re: The privacy problems hidden in your period tracker

#52

Post by TitaRusell »

tredre3 wrote: post #39
elephant81 wrote: post #33

What is the privacy concern vs a weight loss tracker?

Nobody cares that you're fat. But apparently (some) Americans care if your tracker shows that you've missed your period for one or two months before resuming as normal (indicating a possible abortion).

Ultimately the only protection for that is cultural. If a majority of the population is atheist and refuses to subjugate themselves to authority it doesn't matter what data is leaked. Will that day ever come for America? Unlikely.

Re: The privacy problems hidden in your period tracker

#54

Post by psd1 »

TitaRusell wrote: post #52
tredre3 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody cares that you're fat. But apparently (some) Americans care if your tracker shows that you've missed your period for one or two months before resuming as normal (indicating a possible abortion).

Ultimately the only protection for that is cultural. If a majority of the population is atheist and refuses to subjugate themselves to authority it doesn't matter what data is leaked. Will that day ever come for America? Unlikely.

It's not presently visible, agreed. Two problems with your gates: 1. "intolerant minority" - america's christ-reagan constituency is shrill enough to get its way without coming close to half the electorate, and 2. you can refuse social credit systems like you can punch mist. In other words, you only need perhaps 10% of the electorate to be utter cunts and you're fucked. I don't know what country has below 10% utter cunts... Bhutan?

Re: The privacy problems hidden in your period tracker

#55

Post by faangguyindia »

Slow_Hand wrote: post #20
nonameiguess wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MacroFactor is very rare in the modern software world, probably because it was created by fitness science junkies rather than VCs or engineers. Greg was extremely adamant from the start that they're charging money, take it or leave it, but selling the product itself is all they're ever going to sell. No monetizing user data. No dark patterns to drive engagement and keep you in the app. All they're trying to drive is…

I've been using Macrofactor for many years (after a HN recommendation) and now that you mention it, I've been super happy with the experience and don't detect a whiff of dark patterns, unwarranted tracking, or bad business practices that plague other apps. The value of tracking my diet and health has been well worth it. I will happily pay their asking price and it's heartening to hear that the founders/owners are com…

Most people won't pay $70 a year for an app which uses Gemini API to track calories.

That's something you can directly do in AI studio for free, or use free API quota.

Re: The privacy problems hidden in your period tracker

#56

Post by faangguyindia »

quadrifoliate wrote: post #32

I'm male, and clearly don't know enough about this--are there any benefits for the user that a period tracking app can provide by reaching out to the cloud? I guess backing up your data is an obvious one. I thought entering the information is like 90% of the tracking, everything else is mostly calculation/averaging and none of it needs to live on a server. The Euki app seems like my idea of what it would always be.

You can collect data without collecting information about who the data belongs to if you only need it to improve your statistical model. That's what we do. We do not know the user's name, phone number, email address, or date of birth. I think it's best to not collect stuff you don't need for your app to work.

Re: The privacy problems hidden in your period tracker

#57

Post by faangguyindia »

makeitdouble wrote: post #42
quadrifoliate wrote: post #32

I'm male, and clearly don't know enough about this--are there any benefits for the user that a period tracking app can provide by reaching out to the cloud? I guess backing up your data is an obvious one. I thought entering the information is like 90% of the tracking, everything else is mostly calculation/averaging and none of it needs to live on a server. The Euki app seems like my idea of what it would always be.

Yes, backing up is the most obvious reason to have it live on a server from the user POV. And of course the app vendor will want more lockin and be able to keep the data hostage. Paying for apps doesn't help as much as expected, as they'll want to keep the revenue stream alive. Solving this conundrum would require to deal with both side of the coin. The real solution to this would be to give everyone and their dog a…

>Yes, backing up is the most obvious reason to have it live on a server from the user POV. And of course the app vendor will want more lockin and be able to keep the data hostage.

Android comes with auto backup, https://developer.android.com/identity/data/autobackup

App developers choose to collect more data than they need.

Re: The privacy problems hidden in your period tracker

#58

Post by faangguyindia »

annzabelle wrote: post #17
nonameiguess wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MacroFactor is very rare in the modern software world, probably because it was created by fitness science junkies rather than VCs or engineers. Greg was extremely adamant from the start that they're charging money, take it or leave it, but selling the product itself is all they're ever going to sell. No monetizing user data. No dark patterns to drive engagement and keep you in the app. All they're trying to drive is…

I do find that the best apps are the paid ones, they don't need to be relying on selling user data to make a profit. Sadly, a lot of the great boutique lifestyle business paid apps are apple only, and I can't stand the typing experience on iphones.

>I do find that the best apps are the paid ones, they don't need to be relying on selling user data to make a profit.

There is no limit to greed, you can find billionaires who are after trillions. This line of reasoning is at fault.

Re: The privacy problems hidden in your period tracker

#59

Post by iamacyborg »

makeitdouble wrote: post #42
quadrifoliate wrote: post #32

I'm male, and clearly don't know enough about this--are there any benefits for the user that a period tracking app can provide by reaching out to the cloud? I guess backing up your data is an obvious one. I thought entering the information is like 90% of the tracking, everything else is mostly calculation/averaging and none of it needs to live on a server. The Euki app seems like my idea of what it would always be.

Yes, backing up is the most obvious reason to have it live on a server from the user POV. And of course the app vendor will want more lockin and be able to keep the data hostage. Paying for apps doesn't help as much as expected, as they'll want to keep the revenue stream alive. Solving this conundrum would require to deal with both side of the coin. The real solution to this would be to give everyone and their dog a…

> The real solution to this would be to give everyone and their dog a standardised online server with legally enforced privacy, and have sandboxed apps manage data in and out in a interexchangeable format, but I feel like I'm asking for peace on earth.

That sounds like Tim Berners-Lee’s Solid project.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid_(web_decentralization_pr...

Re: The privacy problems hidden in your period tracker

#60

Post by drdexebtjl »

quadrifoliate wrote: post #32

I'm male, and clearly don't know enough about this--are there any benefits for the user that a period tracking app can provide by reaching out to the cloud? I guess backing up your data is an obvious one. I thought entering the information is like 90% of the tracking, everything else is mostly calculation/averaging and none of it needs to live on a server. The Euki app seems like my idea of what it would always be.

Sharing with your partner is a big one.

Whether you’re trying to have a baby, buying her snacks, or planning beach/pool activities together, it’s very useful.

Post reply on HN