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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

#181

Post by FireBeyond »

ceejayoz wrote: post #178
FireBeyond wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very much so. Also ironically, as a healthcare provider (paramedic), HIPAA expressly allows me to get your healthcare information without your consent (as needed for your care). A lot of facilities have you sign paperwork to explicitly authorize sharing, but that's really just a CYA. "Does the HIPAA Privacy Rule permit doctors, nurses, and other health care providers to share patient health information for treatment…

That seems entirely unironic and reasonable, though?

100% reasonable (and often necessary - pill shopping, psychiatric concerns, etc. And not irony in the Act itself, more people's perception of its intent.

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

#182

Post by embedding-shape »

ksenzee wrote: post #169
embedding-shape wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're using Flo specifically, mostly for sharing stuff like "her period starts tomorrow" to the both of us, she doesn't really need a notification for that :)

I'm not sure I understand your argument. It's important enough that she has it set up to share that data to both of you, but it's so unimportant she doesn't need a notification for it?

Yes, it is useful for me as a partner to know, ideally without having to ask her, and not important for her to be notified, since without the notification she'll notice it anyways sooner or later...

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

#183

Post by joe_mamba »

muwtyhg wrote: post #175
joe_mamba wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>People in power want the information to identify a narrower set of people who may have been pregnant and then did not have a child and so may have had an abortion. And what will people in power do with this information?

Are you not American? We have literal abortion bounty programs[1] in some states. There is definitely a desire to find women who have had abortions and punish them for it. [1] https://www.npr.org/2022/07/11/1107741175/texas-abortion-bou...

>Are you not American?

NO, that's why I asked. As per John Oliver's last week tonight, "Did you know there are countries that are not America?"

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

#184

Post by Cider9986 »

culi wrote: post #150
Cider9986 wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HIPAA makes our medical privacy worse, unfortunately. Same video, different platforms: ( https://odysee.com/@NaomiBrockwell:4/HIPAA:7 ) ( https://invidious.nerdvpn.de/watch?v=4sfIBRTcRpU ) ( https://youtube.com/watch?v=4sfIBRTcRpU )

Great video, thanks for sharing. TL;DW: HIPAA was actually created to allow insurance companies to share patient data without having to get patient consent. Before HIPAA, data was more fractured and less commonly shared. The only privacy protections it offers is, e.g., your doctor not giving your data to your boss. But about 1.5 million private entities can legally access your data (everything from health startups to…

Reminds me of this Seinfeld episode when Elaine was marked as "difficult" in her chart, and then she couldn't get a single doctor to see her. She wasn't allowed to see her chart or edit it after that. As soon as she got to a new clinic, they would receive a phone call from another doctor warning them not to treat her.

S8.E5 The Package

(https://redlib.catsarch.com/r/seinfeld/comments/168m2d9/anyo...)

I doubt it was a critique of HIPPA, although the episode was published a little under 2 months after HIPPA was signed.

How great would it be for our privacy if they went back to paper records, though.

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

#185

Post by frameworkeGPU »

xzjis wrote: post #105
TFNA wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A comparable FOSS app called Drip has been on F-Droid since forever.

Drip has a paradoxical flaw: by trying to be extremely inclusive and making a "gender-neutral" app (without the colour pink) to include trans people, it discourages some people from using it. At least, my friend told me she thought the design was ugly and was looking for a "cute" app, so she ended up using Flo instead of Drip despite my many warnings. I think FLOSS apps often forget that not everyone is a developer o…

took me a while to figure out what you were even responding to:

> Not another cute, pink app. drip. is designed with gender inclusivity in mindful

so a FOSS community should bimboify their app because your friend wants her data pinkwashed more than she wants her data safe? sounds like a her problem but she could always fork herself

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

#186

Post by Cider9986 »

FireBeyond wrote: post #165
culi wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great video, thanks for sharing. TL;DW: HIPAA was actually created to allow insurance companies to share patient data without having to get patient consent. Before HIPAA, data was more fractured and less commonly shared. The only privacy protections it offers is, e.g., your doctor not giving your data to your boss. But about 1.5 million private entities can legally access your data (everything from health startups to…

> But about 1.5 million private entities can legally access your data Somewhat. They are allowed to access it "for treatment purposes", not just to nose around out of curiosity. I found myself explaining this to a number of my patients (I used to be a paramedic) who were irate about disclosures they'd made to their therapist, doctor, etc., that they had said they didn't want revealed to other providers (but were actu…

One problem is all the data breaches it encourages. Data breaches are already bad enough with the providers I actually use without 1000s of random companies having access.

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

#188

Post by filleduchaos »

embedding-shape wrote: post #182
ksenzee wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I understand your argument. It's important enough that she has it set up to share that data to both of you, but it's so unimportant she doesn't need a notification for it?

Yes, it is useful for me as a partner to know, ideally without having to ask her, and not important for her to be notified, since without the notification she'll notice it anyways sooner or later...

I'm sorry but this is bordering on parody to me. The way she would notice it "sooner or later" is by her bleeding on her clothes and possibly even furniture. In what world is it important for you to just know about it and somehow not important for her to avoid that?

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

#189

Post by pavel_lishin »

Muromec wrote: post #156
cogman10 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of reasons why you would miss a period that aren't pregnancy related. But that's not the point. Missing a period opens you up to further scrutiny and investigation by the state. Now they will start seeing if you've made out of town trips or perhaps subpoena your chat log to see what you've said to friends and family. It's not enough to prosecute, it is enough to start an investigation.

It's scary and all, but does it actually happen?

Yes, often. See a few of the other replies in this thread for examples.

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

#190

Post by cogman10 »

Chris2048 wrote: post #172
cogman10 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does what actually happen? Prosecutions for abortions? Yes. Warrants related to people getting an abortion? Yes. A period tracker being used as the jump off point for those prosecutions/investigations? Hard to say, maybe? If the data is being sold it isn't hard to imagine that prosecutors and busybodies aren't currently mining that data.

> isn't hard to imagine that prosecutors mainly because I have no idea whether it's realistic to imagine what prosecutors do. I can also easily imagine it to be illegal and wildly unrealistic behaviour for a prosecutor, in my ignorance. > Warrants related to people getting an abortion? The question here isn't whether abortion is illegal in some states, but about period tracking data could be used as evidence, or just…

> I can also easily imagine it to be illegal and wildly unrealistic behaviour for a prosecutor

It's not [1]. There's no safeguards on information available for purchase like this. The US has very little in the way of digital privacy laws.

> especially data that is seemingly illegally obtained.

That's the thing, it's not illegal to sell private data. It's not illegal for prosecutors and cops to buy private data.

It definitely feels like it should be, so I get why you'd think that. Feels aren't the legal code.

[1] https://www.npr.org/2026/03/25/nx-s1-5752369/ice-surveillanc...

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