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Period tracking app, Flo, found to be selling user data to Meta

femtechdesigndesk.substack.com

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Re: Period tracking app, Flo, found to be selling user data to Meta

#11

Post by Zak »

johnny22 wrote: post #5
philipallstar wrote: post #3

> It seems like we can’t just necessarily leave it up to companies – or their ragtag teams of crackpot lawyers rewriting privacy policies every few months – to keep our private data private. It's not a medical requirement from a doctor, so just keep a diary if you want to. Not everything needs to be an app. All the money spent on regulations and regulators to cover increasingly niche opt-in services that are entirely…

privacy legislation would just solve the problem by itself though.

Privacy legislation by itself does not solve the problem; what Flo did was already illegal. Effective enforcement is also necessary.

Re: Period tracking app, Flo, found to be selling user data to Meta

#12

Post by kakacik »

sdoering wrote: post #7
philipallstar wrote: post #3

> It seems like we can’t just necessarily leave it up to companies – or their ragtag teams of crackpot lawyers rewriting privacy policies every few months – to keep our private data private. It's not a medical requirement from a doctor, so just keep a diary if you want to. Not everything needs to be an app. All the money spent on regulations and regulators to cover increasingly niche opt-in services that are entirely…

Why is it a waste? If you want to provide an app, one should follow the law and the regulations. It isn't the wild west (and even that had regulations). Also: Why blame the victims, not the perp?

Nobody is blaming victims, please stop these wild fabulations. OP meant that you can't trust app owners especially long term, as you write its worse than wild west, literally nobody.gives.a.fuck. till they are dragged to the court, then they fight, dissolve company, still sell the data, start a new one and rinse and repeat. People are simply way more greedy than moral on average if there is any lesson in current times.

Look at say zuckenberg - a typical sociopath lying again and again through his nose with big grin just to get what he wants (ie scandals how FB employees go to DB to spy on their exes or enemies is popping up for 10 years at least and there is no stop, every time there is another assurance how it can't be done now blablabla... and thats just specific meta employees).

Nobody likes that, but just sitting and waiting for almighty regulators while blindly trusting apps in good faith to do their jobs is... not working much, is it. Be smart, adapt to real environment out there, not some wishful thinking. In parallel push for change as much as you can, vote with wallet and your time. Once sought-for paradise comes then feel free to use anything anyhow. At least that seems like smarter approach to me.

Re: Period tracking app, Flo, found to be selling user data to Meta

#13

Post by terrut »

thom-gtdp wrote: post #2

[flagged]

My apps are free or freemium with a one time payment. I just started publishing, and my main drive is resentment towards the current state of surveillance in software. It doesn't have to be filled with ads and trackers on top of a subscription.

Re: Period tracking app, Flo, found to be selling user data to Meta

#14

Post by duskdozer »

sdoering wrote: post #4
thom-gtdp wrote: post #2

[flagged]

“They had to find a way to make money” is not a moral blank check. By that logic, almost anything becomes defensible. I was out of work, so I became a contract killer. I had to find a way to make money. No. Companies still have to follow the law. They also have the option of being decent and not tracking or sharing intimate data like sexual preferences with Meta, Google, TikTok, and the advertising industry. I’ve bee…

>By that logic, almost anything becomes defensible. I was out of work, so I became a contract killer. I had to find a way to make money.

Ah, see, that doesn't work because you're a person not a company. The company had to find a way to make money, that's why they denied your chemotherapy. Tough luck for you.

Re: Period tracking app, Flo, found to be selling user data to Meta

#17

Post by tasoeur »

terrut wrote: post #13
thom-gtdp wrote: post #2

[flagged]

My apps are free or freemium with a one time payment. I just started publishing, and my main drive is resentment towards the current state of surveillance in software. It doesn't have to be filled with ads and trackers on top of a subscription.

I’ve also started publishing a small collection of what I call “spite apps” (a reference to Larry David’s spite store when he makes his own coffee shop to go against mocha joe).

These apps are super simple in terms of privacy policy: - we don’t track you (no telemetry) - we don’t show you ads - no account - free with optional tip

Sure I don’t make much money with them but I feel like I’m pushing back on making humanity worse.

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