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

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

#181

Post by mrweasel »

jedimastert wrote: post #129
giantg2 wrote: post #115

Did I miss the part where the data risks women's safety? I was particularly interested in that part of the headline, but I didn't see it detailed in the article.

Third paragraph: > The report’s authors caution that cycle tracking app (CTA) data in the wrong hands could result in risks to job prospects, workplace monitoring, health insurance discrimination and cyberstalking – and limit access to abortion. Did you miss it or are you disagreeing with these being a threat?

Or violence or even death. Certain cultures don't take to kindly to pregnancies outside marriage, or maybe the family disagree with the choice of partner. A cousin works for the app company, leaks the information about an unexpected pregnancy to a conservative father or uncle. Girls is shipped of to family back home and is tragically stabbed to death a few days after arriving.

Most people who collect data of this type of data lacks imagination if they don't think it can be misused.

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

#182

Post by freejazz »

msdrider wrote: post #140
fhdkweig wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a clarification for the "I didn't do anything wrong, I have nothing to hide" crowd, most of the time when someone is pregnant and then suddenly not pregnant, the cause is a miscarriage. And most people would go see a doctor if there is a lot of pain or bleeding. An overzealous prosecutor (usually running for election) is going to make the claim that you went to a doctor and now you aren't pregnant, you must have m…

Surely the burden of proof is on the prosecution? I don't have a problem with this. If a child - even an unborn one - dies in mysterious circumstances, I would prefer the inconvenience of a fruitless investigation over the prospect of living in a society where we don't even care enough to ever be suspicious.

So you want the state to investigate every single miscarriage?

Where did "mysterious circumstances" come from? I didn't see it mentioned anywhere in this thread...

Do you think a miscarriage is a "mysterious circumstance"? I can only assume so, given your response. That seems like the result of what could only be tremendous ignorance.

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

#183

Post by techjamie »

yatopifo wrote: post #93
josefritzishere wrote: post #36

It is painfully evident sometimes that America desperatelyl needs a GDPR-like federal law. The state-by-state laws are by nature peicemeal and it makes for a wild west of outright PII abuse.

Even if you could create such a law, at this point in time, no law can protect americans agains persecution by government-affiliated groups who are immune from court scrutiny thanks to their protections at the very top. You would first have to send corrupt SC justices to prison, impeach Trump and prosecute all his henchmen. Forgive me, but i doubt this is going to happen now that the US is officially a dictatorship.…

Tracking the populace is a bipartisan goal, not just a Republican one. Democrats support some good measures like Net Neutrality, but they're also getting behind the "protect the children" surveillance laws just like the Rs. Even when they're in power, the best we get is department chiefs like Lisa Khan doing good work that the next administration reverts.

But on the lawmaking end, they're still pretty complicit.

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

#184

Post by sdoering »

ARandomerDude wrote: post #149

[flagged]

Having a partner who uses these apps, I can confirm there's significantly more complexity involved than the reductive takes here suggest. She meticulously tracks symptoms—digestive function, fitness levels, headaches, blood pressure, temperature, and various other metrics—to identify cyclical patterns that correlate with specific periodical phases of her menstrual cycle (yes, pun intended).

This longitudinal data collection proves invaluable for identifying hormone-related symptom clusters, particularly during perimenopause when having a structured symptom log for medical consultations becomes essential rather than relying on the classic "I think I remember feeling bad sometime last month" approach that doctors love so much.

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

#185

Post by [deleted] »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #89

They don't need apps to do this. I sat in a meeting with a data broker in 1998 where one of their managers was chuffed that they could determine menstrual cycles by analyzing purchasing records. And it wasn't hygiene products. Various foods and other spending patterns pop out after a 28-day correlation over groups of women that are artificially "synced" into cohort groups. This invasiveness will continue so long as t…

[deleted]

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

#186

Post by [deleted] »

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 ...

[deleted]

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

#187

Post by axus »

msdrider wrote: post #154
scblock wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you haven't tried looking. Women are being arrested and even convicted for having miscarriages, including in the US. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59214544 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/georgia-arrest-miscarri... https://churchandstate.org.uk/2015/01/conservative-dream-com... https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/06/health/miscarriage-criminal-c... https://www.themarshallproject.org/2025/04/02/law-pregna…

You should clarify that these are women who deliberately induce a miscarriage (ie. a home abortion) or whose extraordinarily reckless and dangerous behaviours result in a miscarriage that may or may not have been deliberately induced, but either way are unconscionable and directly responsible for the child's death. You don't do your cause any favours when you present these cases as "miscarriages", knowing full well t…

Their reply was to "I couldn’t find instances of women being imprisoned for getting an abortion."

Replace "You" with "I"?

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

#188

Post by hoistbypetard »

msdrider wrote: post #140
fhdkweig wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a clarification for the "I didn't do anything wrong, I have nothing to hide" crowd, most of the time when someone is pregnant and then suddenly not pregnant, the cause is a miscarriage. And most people would go see a doctor if there is a lot of pain or bleeding. An overzealous prosecutor (usually running for election) is going to make the claim that you went to a doctor and now you aren't pregnant, you must have m…

Surely the burden of proof is on the prosecution? I don't have a problem with this. If a child - even an unborn one - dies in mysterious circumstances, I would prefer the inconvenience of a fruitless investigation over the prospect of living in a society where we don't even care enough to ever be suspicious.

There is nothing mysterious about a miscarriage. They are common. According to the Mayo Clinic:

> Miscarriage is the sudden loss of a pregnancy before the 20th week. About 10% to 20% of known pregnancies end in miscarriage. But the actual number is likely higher. This is because many miscarriages happen early on, before people realize they're pregnant.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pregnancy-los...

Subjecting a person who is already upset about her miscarriage to a fruitless investigation is cruel and stupid; I’d prefer to live in a society where we understand that miscarriages happen as a part of nature and don’t need to further torment the people who suffer from them.

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

#189

Post by em-bee »

msdrider wrote: post #165
em-bee wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

try searching again. here is one example: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/abortion-laws-punishin... it was overturned, but at least one judge believed that imprisonment was warranted and issued his verdict accordingly. and many politicians believe that too and push for laws to that effect.

[flagged]

the article i read claimed that it was under dispute whether the baby was alive. if in doubt...

i just wrote about this in response to the sibling comment, but let me add this:

the problem is lack of compassion for others. this women was under distress. she had no support from her family or from anyone else in society. this was not her failing. this is ours!

if we would actually support women in such a situation, then this would not even have happened. her actions are symptom of how we treat others, of our judgement and our lack of support.

these problems will never go away until we change that.

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

#190

Post by makeitdouble »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #82
XorNot wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Duress modes are a frequently overlooked feature in general - e.g. I don't want to just block access to my location, I want to lie about my location entirely.

I also would like “give an incorrect location” as an option. Something like that would probably never be supported by Google or Apple officially, because unlike some other privacy features, it’s actively and overtly hostile to advertisers.

Apps that fuzzy or fake your GPS location are available on android.

I needed one when working on an app with store location detection and it worked pretty decently. I have no idea what it became or if it can be recommended, but there should be a bunch with recent reviews in the Store.

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