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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

#211

Post by derwiki »

rdevilla wrote: post #208

I don't really give a shit at this point. In Toronto it's legal to even record into your condo neighbor's unit 24/7 and livestream your recording to the Internet, unbeknownst to the inhabitants. It has been demonstrated that nobody will enforce anything. At this point I am a privacy nihilist, and I expect all information about anyone to be exploited all the time. Everyone should do the same.

I live in America so I can’t speak to Canadian laws, but what you’re describing is the same in the States. If you are in public, or can be seen by someone who is in public, you do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy. It’s how paparazzi work.

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

#212

Post by Chris2048 »

cogman10 wrote: post #190
Chris2048 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 de…

> it's not illegal to sell private data

In this case, though not covered by HIPAA, it's also not clear there was legal consent to sell this information given it was against their privacy policy.

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

#214

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 »

jumpconc wrote: post #35
moffers wrote: post #19

I don’t have the right configuration of equipment to use an app like this, but does anyone know why this needs to be a service-driven app? What piece of functionality requires a server to track your health?

The spying part requires a server. If you use GrapheneOS, you can enable or disable internet access for each app.

"If you use GrapheneOS, you can enable or disable internet access for each app."

This can also be done on Android with certain apps such as Netguard and PCAPDroid

(Using either a blacklist or whitelist approach)

Disabling internet access is not necessarily a hard requirement to stop this type of spying

Controlling what DNS data apps can access, if any, will usually suffice

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

#216

Post by FireBeyond »

pseudalopex wrote: post #196
FireBeyond wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It is not reasonable to disregard patients' consent so generally. Specific purposes could have specific exceptions.

I think the key is in the course of treatment.

I agree that it's not and never should be a free-for-all with PHI just "because you can".

But if I, as an EMS provider, are treating someone for, say, an overdose, it is rather germane to my treatment of you that you have a history of suicidal ideation or attempts, even if you'd rather I wasn't able to gather that information from another provider's records (because you'd "rather not" be subject to a mandated hold/evaluation if it appears that your overdose was intentional).

I don't need to know, and don't care, if you're transitioning and I'm seeing you for a seizure, for example, it's not relevant. If you're unconscious and I need to see if I can see history or diagnoses or etc., as I'm determining the risk of an intervention to perform on you, then, I may discover that detail, again, in the course of your treatment.

It's not a blanket "I don't care whether you consent or not, I'm pulling your records from the EHR. Sucks to be you."

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

#217

Post by basilikum »

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…

I don't quite understand your point. Is Drip non-pink to include trans men? That sounds really far fetched to me. And your friend found it ugly because it's not pink? Design is obviously subjectivity and perhaps your friend prefers the color pink, but has any of this actually anything to do with trans people and inclusiveness?

What's your reasoning for the conclusion of the app looking the way it does due to this and not due to the developer just subjectively preferring this design?

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

#218

Post by juggina »

forgotaccount3 wrote: post #41
juggina wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

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 facebook doesn't care about people's rights when those people in power are able to block Facebook from acquiring some new startup they want to buy, so facebook is willing to share the information.

[flagged]

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

#219

Post by juggina »

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...

[flagged]

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

#220

Post by drakonka »

alistairSH wrote: post #87
moffers wrote: post #19

I don’t have the right configuration of equipment to use an app like this, but does anyone know why this needs to be a service-driven app? What piece of functionality requires a server to track your health?

Not being a women, I've always wondered what insight the app gives regardless of data traveling to a server... does it do anything you can't do with a simple notebook app (like Apple's default Notes)? If you have an irregular period, does this app help "guess" when it's going to start/end? If you have a regular period, why do you need an app at all?

I wonder if you would ask the same thing about any number of apps - like fitness trackers, mood trackers, supplement trackers, online diary apps, task trackers, etc? You don't even need a notes app - you could just carry a notebook around or email notes to yourself.

As for why people may want to track menstrual cycles specifically, it is because bodies can be greatly influenced by what phase of the menstrual cycle we are in. From regular physical and mood changes to disorders like PMDD. The different parts of the cycle can also impact ideal exercise and even food choices for some. There are women and couples who gain insights (and often useful predictions) into how their moods coincide with menstrual phases, and that is much easier to track in a dedicated app designed to do so (which can also flag cycle irregularities, bleeding variation, or other changes), just as with other purpose-built applications. All of that is before we even get to the whole fertility tracking thing. One such app is a certified birth control method in my country. Tracking periods in a notes app is not.

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