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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

#321

Post by Smar »

crazygringo wrote: post #318
wand3r wrote: post #275

While unlikely, I personally believe that advertising revenue should be taxed at 50%. This would do a lot to align industry incentives. Advertising revenue would be looked at less as a free cash stream that can be bolted on everywhere. In this case, maybe the app could be monetized directly instead of whatever the fuck is happening now.

Revenue isn't taxed. Profit is. I suppose you could tax a proportion of your profit at a higher rate, according to the proportion of your revenue that came from advertising. But advertising isn't a "free cash stream that can be bolted on everywhere". It's part of a business model that either is sustainable or isn't. If you taxed it that much higher, a lot of businesses would simply go out of business, because people…

There cpuld be harmful substance tax, akin to alcohol.

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

#322

Post by Henchman21 »

duxup wrote: post #172
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ...

Why wouldn’t email, flight info, rental car data, etc. also be contributing? You’re aware of course that some states make traveling to get an abortion a crime? Idaho specifically?

You’re bandying about ideas when the people pushing this crap want a return to chattel slavery.

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

#323

Post by scotty79 »

crazygringo wrote: post #318
wand3r wrote: post #275

While unlikely, I personally believe that advertising revenue should be taxed at 50%. This would do a lot to align industry incentives. Advertising revenue would be looked at less as a free cash stream that can be bolted on everywhere. In this case, maybe the app could be monetized directly instead of whatever the fuck is happening now.

Revenue isn't taxed. Profit is. I suppose you could tax a proportion of your profit at a higher rate, according to the proportion of your revenue that came from advertising. But advertising isn't a "free cash stream that can be bolted on everywhere". It's part of a business model that either is sustainable or isn't. If you taxed it that much higher, a lot of businesses would simply go out of business, because people…

I think in case of ad companies you could tax the revenue directly. They are strongly vertically integrated so there's really very little reason to track their profit rather than total sales.

The only reason you tax profits rather than revenue is that you want to avoid killing businesses that do useful things why operating at low margins.

Margins in advertising are huge and what those company do is pure detriment to all market actors on average.

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

#324

Post by nartho »

davkan wrote: post #297
nartho wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the correct use of elucidate, "to make light of". Perfectly cromulent.

While OP’s usage of elucidate was accurate, your definition is off. Perhaps you were thinking of “to shed light on”? “To make light of“ would be to downplay the significance of something.

You're right. I meant to make lucid.

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

#326

Post by bluGill »

crazygringo wrote: post #276
bluGill wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I expect most women buy in advance, I expect they also don't buy enough and so are out there mid-period at least some of the time. Their cycles also affect their buying patterns, so even women who are stocking up are more likely to buy differently in different parts of the cycle. The real question is what does the manager do with the data. Across a city on any given day there are about the same number of women…

> The real question is what does the manager do with the data. Direct-mail (or these days, in-app with notifications) coupons. If you know you'll pay full price at CVS, but it's 30% off at Rite-Aid, you'll go to Rite-Aid and buy other stuff as long as you're making the trip. I mean, maybe there really are enough women buying last-minute to be able to predict, at least for those women -- and identify who those women a…

If that is your motivation you just blanket send those advertisements all month. Because you want women to think of you when they have need. Some women are stocking up before they have need, and so the coupon when they are having their period is when they won't be buying supplies. Even those who are buying as they have need, if they are out they are buying from the closest store at whatever price, while those who are not in an emergency know where the low prices are (wal-mart or such)

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

#327

Post by creaturemachine »

bluGill wrote: post #255
crazygringo wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate? Because even with hygiene products, people buy them before they need them and stock up. And with food, you're often shopping for a week and for the whole family. You put things on a shopping list and don't buy them the same day you're using them, or even the same week. I suspect that even if the manager thought they could determine it, their actual "results" were entirely random. After all, how is…

While I expect most women buy in advance, I expect they also don't buy enough and so are out there mid-period at least some of the time. Their cycles also affect their buying patterns, so even women who are stocking up are more likely to buy differently in different parts of the cycle. The real question is what does the manager do with the data. Across a city on any given day there are about the same number of women…

Just knowing what is bought together with menstrual products can influence how they're marketed. It can influence where certain products are placed on shelves relative to menstrual products, where and how they're marketed, which brands in your conglomerate to co-market with, and so on. This is the most innocent use of data in aggregate. The real creepy shit follows now that it's individualized and easily deanonymized.

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

#328

Post by stevenbedrick »

mstridder1 wrote: post #215
freejazz wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a strawman. You said "mysterious circumstances" when we are talking about miscarriages. Do you think they are the same or not? It's a very simple question. >Do you not want police to investigate reports of someone disposing of human remains in a dumpster? What does this have to do with a miscarriage????

[flagged]

At least one county prosecutor in WV is, in fact, discussing investigating routine miscarriages: https://www.wvnstv.com/news/local-news/prosecutor-warns-of-p...

From the article:

> State law does not require a woman to notify authorities when she miscarries, but Truman said that women who miscarry in West Virginia can protect themselves against potential criminal charges by reporting the miscarriage to local law enforcement. > > “Call your doctor. Call law enforcement, or 911, and just say, ‘I miscarried. I want you to know,'” advised Truman.

Now, in fairness, the state's association of prosecutors has clarified that this is not official policy and that the association as a whole does not support it. But it's definitely not out of the realm of possibility.

https://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/local-news/2025/06/pros...

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

#329

Post by yumraj »

Curious does anyone know of a app/tool that can ingest a dump of your medical records, across platforms and EHR/EMRs and providers, and show it to you?

Ideally this would be local, or self-hostable, and FOSS, but am still curious if it is not that.

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

#330

Post by dzhiurgis »

ASalazarMX wrote: post #304
Ylpertnodi wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For people living in the US of Freedom, wouldn't it be good think to 'keep putting in' cycles, despite pregnancy? Should anything untoward happen later, a quick flash o' the app and "Nope, Officer, no siree. Like clockwork, me...".

I don't get the downvotes. Plausible deniability is a valid concern when menstrual cycles and geolocation can lead to criminal repercussions in many states of USA [0]. Nevertheless, if I was a fertile woman, I'd be more concerned of my phone/tablet/car leaking my visits to an abortion clinic than a police officer checking my phone. 0. https://states.guttmacher.org/policies

Is this actually enforced?
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