Cambridge researchers urge public health bodies like the NHS to provide trustworthy, research-driven alternatives to platforms driven by profit.
Women deserve better than to have their menstrual tracking data treated as consumer data - Prof Gina Neff
Smartphone apps that track menstrual cycles are a “gold mine” for consumer profiling, collecting information on everything from exercise, diet and medication to sexual preferences, hormone levels and contraception use.
This is according to a new report from the University of Cambridge’s Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, which argues that the financial worth of this data is “vastly underestimated” by users who supply profit-driven companies with highly intimate details in a market lacking in regulation.
The report’s authors caution that cycle tracking app (CTA) data in the wrong hands could result in risks to job prospects, workplace monitoring, health insurance discrimination and cyberstalking – and limit access to abortion.
They call for better governance of the booming ‘femtech’ industry to protect users when their data is sold at scale, arguing that apps must provide clear consent options rather than all-or-nothing data collection, and urge public health bodies to launch alternatives to commercial CTAs.
No woman in the US should be tracking their period in any sort of app or software.
Drip, the app mentioned several times in this thread, let’s you encrypt the locally stored database with a password you have to enter every time you open the app. How is that not safer than a random piece of paper?
It’s so exhausting that this thread is full of men telling women what they should and shouldn’t do while having very little knowledge about the topic.
And of people who assume the genders of others.
I’m sorry if I misgendered you. I was already exhausted from the other comments that clearly state that they are men and probably was biased in that regard. But my point still stands that there is no reason to completely forego tracking apps.
Yeah, and of course I haven’t looked into all of the tech and security of ways to set up these apps. I’m just exhausted myself from it seeming like nothing is ever 100% secure or free from risk, and I’m so cynical about the country I live in and what it will become in the future that I would just rather not trust anything at this point. I’m sure that doesn’t 100% hold water/is completely rational, but it’s where my head is.
I get that. It shouldn’t be necessary to do research just to be sure it’s safe. I apologise for my aggressive tone. It must be really scary and exhausting to live somewhere like that. My country is still holding up but seems to be sliding slowly in that direction too.
So do whatever makes you stay safe and feel safe.
I appreciate it and you
it can be tracked safely with an app that only stores local data.
I’m not sure what you’re scared of.
Convenience wins out 99% of the time. Why carry a pen/paper when one can use the same device they already carry around? Hell, I don’t even use pen/paper anymore because my phone handles all that for me.
That said, I did set up some infrastructure at home that I use to store as much of my private data as possible.
Why not?
Apple Health encrypts your data and never sends it to anyone else.