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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

#41

Post by JohnBooty »

calcifer wrote: post #15
metrix wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain?

Historically, "safety" referred to protection from physical harm. It has now expanded into psychological, emotional, economical realms. This had the (very much intended) effect of redefining "unsafe" from imminent and persistent threat to anything that makes me uncomfortable .

In America, in many states, you can be imprisoned for having an abortion.

Sharing your menstrual data and therefore having it available for subpoena is quite literally a physical safety risk.

If you don't understand, or disagree that the word "safety" is entirely appropriate here, can you talk about why?

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

#42

Post by oulipo »

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...

I guess using FHE like from https://zama.ai you could provide server-side features without compromising privacy

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

#43

Post by OJFord »

NoTranslationL wrote: post #18
sandra_vu wrote: post #6

I have been thinking about building a privacy-first tracking app for years now.

I make one! It’s called Reflect. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/reflect-track-anything/id64638...

Seems too nerdy for the market at large - the correlation etc. features might well be as good as or better than what the likes of Flo provide, but people will have a harder time understanding that than simply 'your next date is expected to be x', 'your cycle is typically x days', etc.

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

#46

Post by rtkwe »

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...

[flagged]

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

#47

Post by JohnBooty »

For those wondering why this is a safety issue, in many American states abortion or "fetal harm" is considered murder. You can be imprisoned, theoretically for life. This is of course a rapidly evolving area of law since the fall of Roe v. Wade. Having one's menstrual data available for subpoena is therefore quite a literal safety risk.

"At least 38 states authorize homicide charges for causing pregnancy loss"

https://www.law.cuny.edu/academics/clinical-programs/hrgj/pr...

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

#48

Post by [deleted] »

JohnBooty wrote: post #47

For those wondering why this is a safety issue, in many American states abortion or "fetal harm" is considered murder. You can be imprisoned, theoretically for life. This is of course a rapidly evolving area of law since the fall of Roe v. Wade. Having one's menstrual data available for subpoena is therefore quite a literal safety risk. "At least 38 states authorize homicide charges for causing pregnancy loss" https:…

[deleted]

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

#49

Post by ejolto »

dinkblam wrote: post #7
olalonde wrote: post #3

[flagged]

also in the 70s people would not even have "noticed" covid. back then people could not even be bothered to use seatbelts or stop chainsmoking (even in airplanes). what is considered "acceptable risk" has completely changed in the past few decades.

The 1968 "Hong Kong flu" had a similar case fatality rate and they certainly noticed that.

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

#50

Post by NoTranslationL »

rtkwe wrote: post #46
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...

[flagged]

I can understand that. We are also working on an encryption feature that doesn’t use the default encryption primitives so people can have custody over their own keys and feel better about their data security at rest
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