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Top Mental Health and Prayer Apps Fail at Privacy, Security (2022)

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Re: Top Mental Health and Prayer Apps Fail at Privacy, Security (2022)

#51

Post by denton-scratch »

barrysteve wrote: post #28
denton-scratch wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Passwords are legally the only thing that can't be forced out of you, to make you login into a computer system against your interests. Not in the UK, since RIPA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_of_Investigatory_Po... It's been used: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7102180.stm

Guess my comment is surplus-to-requirements. Waves of 'sadge' aside.. Non-conformists are necessary to keep society progressing. The computing revolution is becoming oppressive. I guess the future rests with Men who have the willpower to keep valuable ideas out of the system long enough to for them to bear fruit. Isaac Newton studied in private for 15yrs.. He also privately denied the Trinity and refused to take Holy…

> and refused to take Holy Orders from the CofE.

Did the CofE try to compel him to take Holy Orders?

As far as I'm aware, Holy Orders in the CofE amounts to becoming a priest (since the CofE has no monks or friars). I thought you had to ask for that, and then prove your worthiness.

Is there some order in the CofE that the church can ask you to join, when you don't want to?

[Edit] He was a Rosicrucian; I'm not really sure what that means in theological terms, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't align with any conventional doxy.

Re: Top Mental Health and Prayer Apps Fail at Privacy, Security (2022)

#52

Post by sudobash1 »

It is disheartening (although not that surprising) to see how many companies are "double dipping" here. For example Pray.com seems particularly bad. It has a $7.99 a month subscription, but still track and sell your information just like a "free" app would.

Ordinarily I feel much better about an app which has a clearly defined, above-board, method of funding itself. (The old "if you aren't paying for the product, you are the product" thing). But this is a good reminder that it is "if" not "if and only if".

Re: Top Mental Health and Prayer Apps Fail at Privacy, Security (2022)

#53

Post by adamwong246 »

I hate to be the one who has to say the quiet part out loud but- what in the world are we doing to ourselves? Were these apps FOSS I might not be so alarmed but how do you think these companies are paying the bills? With good karma? No, YOUR DATA. And not just your GPS location or your favorite brand of ice cream, but your most vulnerable and intimate of thoughts. Now, shudder at the thought that not only can these apps leech your data, they can now poke back, manipulating the user to god know's what. And of course, your health insurance provider is now peering into your soul. They'll surely be happy to mandate that you can no longer attend "human" therapy.

Re: Top Mental Health and Prayer Apps Fail at Privacy, Security (2022)

#54

Post by JohnMakin »

NoZebra120vClip wrote: post #47
JohnMakin wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While you're not wrong, in many many states in the US, if not a majority of them, finding a therapist that is both a) covered by your insurance and b) accepting new patients can be extraordinarily difficult if not impossible. At the same time, demand for mental health care is steadily rising. That's why these apps do so well.

I've found that some of the best therapists don't accept any insurance at all, and it'd be foolish to limit one's choices to therapists who are covered by conventional health insurance. One very good choice in my area is Catholic Charities. They have licensed counselors as well as students under supervision, and they charge a mere $35 per session. This is a great choice for those who are uninsured or have trouble get…

> and it'd be foolish to limit one's choices to therapists who are covered by conventional health insurance.

I mean, many people don't have a choice, or it's prohibitively expensive. Good for you if you have such flexibility.

Re: Top Mental Health and Prayer Apps Fail at Privacy, Security (2022)

#55

Post by anotheraccount9 »

This is concerning. I'm using one of these services and if my mental health details were to be known, I would not only feel devastated, but this would negatively impact my career and social life (for a long time?). I need to know I can trust these folks, but what are other options? I can't find any psychologists or psychotherapists in my area who are available (many don't even answer my calls or emails). Do you know of any good and trustworthy online services for this?

Re: Top Mental Health and Prayer Apps Fail at Privacy, Security (2022)

#56

Post by aio2 »

adamwong246 wrote: post #53

I hate to be the one who has to say the quiet part out loud but- what in the world are we doing to ourselves? Were these apps FOSS I might not be so alarmed but how do you think these companies are paying the bills? With good karma? No, YOUR DATA. And not just your GPS location or your favorite brand of ice cream, but your most vulnerable and intimate of thoughts. Now, shudder at the thought that not only can these a…

Some people are stupid.

Re: Top Mental Health and Prayer Apps Fail at Privacy, Security (2022)

#57

Post by adamwong246 »

anotheraccount9 wrote: post #55

This is concerning. I'm using one of these services and if my mental health details were to be known, I would not only feel devastated, but this would negatively impact my career and social life (for a long time?). I need to know I can trust these folks, but what are other options? I can't find any psychologists or psychotherapists in my area who are available (many don't even answer my calls or emails). Do you know…

I believe that this problem is one of sheer personal responsibility. That is, I don't really trust therapists much more than these apps. Support groups and self-help books are better but in the end, only pure "shadow work" can really save you. You must learn to be your own therapist.

Re: Top Mental Health and Prayer Apps Fail at Privacy, Security (2022)

#58

Post by derefr »

NoZebra120vClip wrote: post #15

I was pleased to see that Hallow earned their seal of approval, or should I say it evaded their badge of shame? Hallow's a good app, professionally developed, and it's marketed tirelessly. I had my friend asking me if it was a good app to install. I don't know; I use other ones but not Hallow. I was also pleased to see that "BetterHelp" earned the badge of shame. BetterHelp is just on this side of an outright scam. T…

> If you're thinking of using "BetterHelp" or one of its analogs, please instead consider [...a bunch of stuff that someone with an executive dysfunction could never manage to do]

Re: Top Mental Health and Prayer Apps Fail at Privacy, Security (2022)

#59

Post by mustacheemperor »

mustacheemperor wrote: post #49
NoZebra120vClip wrote: post #15

I was pleased to see that Hallow earned their seal of approval, or should I say it evaded their badge of shame? Hallow's a good app, professionally developed, and it's marketed tirelessly. I had my friend asking me if it was a good app to install. I don't know; I use other ones but not Hallow. I was also pleased to see that "BetterHelp" earned the badge of shame. BetterHelp is just on this side of an outright scam. T…

BetterHelp is terrible. The dehumanizing, exhausting, money-seizing experience of trying to engage with their app was a net negative for my mental health when I tried to use it. They've taken the antipatterns used to extract effective monetization in social media apps and mobile games and applied them to people seeking help with their mental health. I've noticed they ingratiate themselves with corporate health benefi…

Oh, I just remembered: the onboarding "chat" was specifically advertised as a free, no committal part of the introduction process. After I declined to go further, they started billing me monthly for a subscription to therapy services I had never engaged to use, and I had to email them repeatedly to get the subscription stopped and the charges refunded.

Billed by the month for exchanging a dozen or so messages with a fake therapist. If you're a company leader and get the opportunity to include BetterHelp in your benefits package - don't.

Re: Top Mental Health and Prayer Apps Fail at Privacy, Security (2022)

#60

Post by lo_zamoyski »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #7
hospitalJail wrote: post #5

>Mozilla’s Minimum Security Standards, like requiring strong passwords What if I don't want a strong password? What if I have 0 care for my account because I never wanted an account to being with but was strong armed into giving away my email, phone number, and now need a unique password because I'm worried someone is going to see that I 'prayed' 100 times. I loved that reddit didn't need an email, and I could use a…

One very, very basic measurement / thought experiment for holiness in Christian circles to think about is the following: Imagine Christianity is illegal. Imagine the government decides to prosecute you, but hires the weakest, most incompetent, repeatedly-almost-disbarred prosecutor there is. You meanwhile get access to David Boies. Would the government have enough evidence for even the worst prosecutor to prove you a…

Prayer can be both public and private. It's more than just the danger of being exposed as a Christian to a regime that is hostile to it and persecuting Christians. The seal of confession is an obvious good example of why privacy is important. Everyone standing in line to the confessional knows you're Catholic and that you're going to confession. They don't know what you're confessing to.

Obviously, you shouldn't be storing confessions in an app, but the principle is that privacy goes beyond the danger of persecution.

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