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Menstrual tracking app data is gold mine for advertisers that risks women safety

cam.ac.uk

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Re: Menstrual tracking app data is gold mine for advertisers that risks women safety

#171

Post by dijksterhuis »

1970-01-01 wrote: post #76
XorNot wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paper is easier to destroy quickly, and to also plausibly lose or deny having. This is actually one of the biggest problems I've found with Yubikeys: they're both too fragile yet also hard to reliably, deliberately destroy quickly.

I really don't agree. If I take a photo on my phone, it can be deleted in less than a millisecond. Shredding a paper calendar takes at least 30 seconds. I don't see denial of ownership as a legitimate strategy to data confidentiality.

if you have an iphone [0], im not exactly sure how you’re able to truly delete a photo in a millisecond as you have to go through

* a pop up dialog confirming you want to delete the photo with the below message

> This photo will be deleted from iCloud Photo on all your devices. it will be in Recently Deleted for 30 days.

* deleting the photo a second time from recently deleted folder, with a second confirmation dialog

> this will delete the selected photo from icloud and all connected devices

bonus round: any device which has previously downloaded the photo, but is not connected to icloud services at the time of deletion, requires you to physically go to that device and connect it to icloud / manually delete the photo all over again.

—

versus, take cigarette lighter out of pocket, start burning paper, wait.

[0]: statistically probably quite likely given HN demographics and iphone market share

Re: Menstrual tracking app data is gold mine for advertisers that risks women safety

#172

Post by duxup »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #168
duxup wrote: post #157

The article doesn't define what exactly they mean by "risks women safety". I don't buy into the idea that all or any advertising is a "safety" issue if that is where they're going. I think there's a very weird type of patronizing that goes on where suddenly we fear for everyone's ability to deal with advertising as if they've got no self control or agency ...

A state like Texas being able to track a woman’s period means they will know when she becomes pregnant or ceases to be pregnant. That’s potential evidence of a felony in Texas. You connect the dots from there.

I don't buy into the idea that ANY possible evidence is a legitimate risk for being prosecuted when it would take a GREAT deal more than that to get to that point.

Would flight info, rental car data, etc also contribute?

Emails saved ...

Re: Menstrual tracking app data is gold mine for advertisers that risks women safety

#173

Post by makapuf »

thmsths wrote: post #80
28304283409234 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Truly - how is this not data theft?

Because you "technically" agreed to it in the 5000 words long terms and conditions, you also agreed to the clause that says they can change at anytime.

Maybe limit the contract that a person (who is not a professional in the subject of the contract) can sign to 200 words. Anything past the 200th word doesn't exist even if you sign it.

Re: Menstrual tracking app data is gold mine for advertisers that risks women safety

#174

Post by xeonmc »

duxup wrote: post #157

The article doesn't define what exactly they mean by "risks women safety". I don't buy into the idea that all or any advertising is a "safety" issue if that is where they're going. I think there's a very weird type of patronizing that goes on where suddenly we fear for everyone's ability to deal with advertising as if they've got no self control or agency ...

It means that they are snitching data to the reproductive gestapo.

Re: Menstrual tracking app data is gold mine for advertisers that risks women safety

#175

Post by rustcleaner »

josephg wrote: post #152
1718627440 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no access to network ?

I wish this were a capability you could (as a user) grant or reject at will. But there’s a UI problem: people are sick of clicking accept on a million dialog boxes already.

GrapheneOS gives per-app network access control.

Re: Menstrual tracking app data is gold mine for advertisers that risks women safety

#176

Post by SoftTalker »

frakt0x90 wrote: post #69

As usual, we need laws preventing gross (in every sense) invasions of privacy. Building new apps that aren't evil still allows the evil ones to exist. Targeted advertising as a whole should be eradicated.

Laws don't seem to work when it comes to Meta, Google, et. al. They just do what they want anyway.

Re: Menstrual tracking app data is gold mine for advertisers that risks women safety

#177

Post by NoTranslationL »

pickledoyster wrote: post #151
NoTranslationL wrote: post #23

If anyone is interested in a privacy focused tracking app that stores all your data locally, I make an app called Reflect [0] whose sole purpose is this, plus on-device analysis. We’re working on a menstrual tracking feature right now and it’s pretty far along. We’ve just released an anomaly detection feature as well. [0] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/reflect-track-anything/id64638...

The report in the OP raises valid concerns about SDKs from third parties, including Google and Facebook. Your own site showcases the Reflect SDK which is, I quote: > The Reflect SDK is the iOS framework that powers the Reflect – Track Anything app and is designed to help you: > > Create forms to track customer product usage and experience > Collect customer biometric data [...] Source: https://ntl.ai/products/ Let's…

This is a totally valid concern. Initially we were considering augmenting our income with a B2B model to license the library we’ve built, but that didn’t pan out and our priorities have changed, so we solely work on the apps for customers now. I actually forgot this was even on our website and, since we aren’t trying to offer those services or license anymore, I’ve removed them.

Re: Menstrual tracking app data is gold mine for advertisers that risks women safety

#178

Post by thombat »

duxup wrote: post #157

The article doesn't define what exactly they mean by "risks women safety". I don't buy into the idea that all or any advertising is a "safety" issue if that is where they're going. I think there's a very weird type of patronizing that goes on where suddenly we fear for everyone's ability to deal with advertising as if they've got no self control or agency ...

The article notes that this data would reveal abortions or miscarriages, and that in some states this information is used as input for criminal prosecution.

Re: Menstrual tracking app data is gold mine for advertisers that risks women safety

#179

Post by rustcleaner »

duxup wrote: post #157

The article doesn't define what exactly they mean by "risks women safety". I don't buy into the idea that all or any advertising is a "safety" issue if that is where they're going. I think there's a very weird type of patronizing that goes on where suddenly we fear for everyone's ability to deal with advertising as if they've got no self control or agency ...

Advertising is what's justified our shiny new 1984 surveillance grid. Advertising is risking all our safety!

Re: Menstrual tracking app data is gold mine for advertisers that risks women safety

#180

Post by tantalor »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #168
duxup wrote: post #157

The article doesn't define what exactly they mean by "risks women safety". I don't buy into the idea that all or any advertising is a "safety" issue if that is where they're going. I think there's a very weird type of patronizing that goes on where suddenly we fear for everyone's ability to deal with advertising as if they've got no self control or agency ...

A state like Texas being able to track a woman’s period means they will know when she becomes pregnant or ceases to be pregnant. That’s potential evidence of a felony in Texas. You connect the dots from there.

Then the article should say that.
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