9mo ago

Period tracking app refuses to disclose data to American authorities

www.newsweek.com

Technology @beehaw.org

chobeat @lemmy.ml

9mo ago

Period tracking app refuses to disclose data to American authorities

www.newsweek.com /period-tracking-app-refuses-disclose-data-american-authorities-1982841

Technology @lemmy.world

chobeat @lemmy.ml

9mo ago

Period tracking app refuses to disclose data to American authorities

www.newsweek.com /period-tracking-app-refuses-disclose-data-american-authorities-1982841

86 comments

If anyone is in need of a more secure option in these dystopian times: drip keeps all your data on your phone. You can export the data, so you can keep the tracked data when changing phones. I only use it for tracking my cycle and sometimes symptoms though, so I can't say much about using it for birth control.
- Apple’s Cycle Tracking app is also locally and E2E encrypted in iCloud.
  When your phone is locked with a passcode, Touch ID, or Face ID, all of your health and fitness data in the Health app, other than your Medical ID, is encrypted. Any health data synced to iCloud is encrypted both in transit and on our servers. And if you have a recent version of watchOS and iOS with the default two-factor authentication and a passcode, your health and activity data will be stored in a way that Apple can’t read it.
  This means that when you use the Cycle Tracking feature and have enabled two-factor authentication, your health data synced to iCloud is encrypted end-to-end and Apple does not have the key to decrypt the data and therefore cannot read it.
  https://support.apple.com/en-us/120356
  
  Sure. It's encrypted. And your private data only stays on your device. Pinky swear.
  With our 10 billion $ in ad revenue, you can trust that your data never makes it to a third party unencrypted 😚
  Anti Commercial-AI license
  
  Is the app and the OS open source? No? Then please shut the fuck up with your dangerous "advice". People really still havent understood how this shit works. How is this being upvoted? Corporations do not deserve your trust when they claim things without proving them.
  This is not a joke, this shit affects peoples lives. After spearheading the technology for creeps to stalk people with physical tags, and being the first to experiment with client side communications scanning, how do people still not understand that apple is just as bad as the rest.
  
  For better E2E encryption, you should turn on Advanced Data Protection: https://support.apple.com/en-us/108756
- Best to write your data down. Do not put on device or online.
  
  I mean, the app offers encryption of the data, so you'd have to enter a password. And you can encrypt your phone as well. If it gets to a point where you are forced to enter the password, a piece of paper in your drawer is probably not much safer.
  It's really beyond fucked up that this is something people have to think about.
Why does a period tracking app even need to store the data anywhere other than locally?
- their given reasons are "to keep backups" and "academic and clinical research with de-identified datasets"
  they seem to actually do a fairly good job with anonymizing the research datasets, unlike most "anonymized research data", though for the raw data stored on their servers, they do not seem to use encryption properly and their security model is "the cloud hoster wouldn't spy on the data right?" (hint: their data is stored on american servers, so the american authorities can just subpoena Amazon Web Services directly, bypassing all their "privacy guarantees". (the replacement for the EU-US Privacy Shield seems to be on very uncertain legal grounds, and that was before the election))
  
  De-identified data is an oxymoron. Basically any dataset that's in any way interesting is identifiable.
- Sometimes people get new phones 🤷‍♀️
  
  dude, phones have built-in functions to transfer data seamlessly, i helped my dad with that a while back and it amounts to pressing some buttons and putting the phones on top of each other..
  if that's too difficult i think you need a personal assistant.
~~That's nice, but why does that data need to be on their servers in the first place?~~
Ok, so apparently they don't store the data by default. Guessing they could if the user wants it backed up or synced across devices.
- I imagine they collect data to improve their algorithm so it can more accurately predict a woman's cycle. Quite a few women use these apps as an alternative birth control, so knowing the specific days where they need to avoid sex is helpful.
  
  Normally, I'd install the app to find out, but I can't really install any more apps on my phone. And oh man, do I never like seeing the phrase "collect data to improve [their] algorithm".
Any woman on here, please consider bluemoon. My wife is tech illiterate but loves the app.
Bluemoon (Open source, privacy friendly menstruation tracking app. Your period, your data!) https://f-droid.org/packages/ch.nilsgrob.android.bluemoon/
- I can recommend Mensinator. It includes logging and calculated ovulation day too. Something I could not see in bluemoon screenshots.
  
  Mensinator
  Sounds like something from Doofenshmirtz.
Can I get a reminder about the apps that WILL share with the govt so I can help fuck with their data?
- All US-based apps and all the apps that store their data in US-owned cloud providers at very least.
  
  US based apps that’s are end-to-end encrypted where you control the private keys cannot physically share as they won’t have access. Even if it’s in their cloud.
- Probably the rest of them.
female and male staff members at Clue, based in Berlin
Basiert und in Berlin.
𝕯𝖎𝖊𝖘𝖊 𝕶𝖔𝖒𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖆𝖗𝖘𝖊𝖐𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 𝖎𝖘𝖙 𝖓𝖚𝖓 𝕰𝖎𝖌𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖚𝖒 𝖉𝖊𝖗 𝕭𝖚𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖘𝖗𝖊𝖕𝖚𝖇𝖑𝖎𝖐 𝕯𝖊𝖚𝖙𝖘𝖈𝖍𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖉
DO NOT put this kind of information in an app!
If you absolutely have to have it in your phone, use the calendar and pick some event that's plausible monthly with a unique name so you can search on it. "Checked for Mxyzlptik updates", "Look at travel to Canada prices" or whatever.
If you need more functionality than that you'll need an offline solution. We live in a fascist dictatorship now. They hate women. And they will 100% use that information against you if they can.
I know it's not feasible, but if a lot of males would just use the apps that are know to report to US authorities and input data, that most likely will raise a alarms, they would have to deal with heaps of false-positives and it would obscure the real data.
- I'm in. Anyone know of any apps that DO report data?
  
  Same, ready to poison data against fascists anytime.
- I just experienced my first period as a 38 year old male. I know almost nothing about them, so this is gonna be a wild ride for anyone who reads my stats.
- Wouldn't that just break the app?
  I'm just assuming they use user data to improve the health data shown, if people are going to fill it up with bogus data, it just destroys whatever use this app has for women.
It makes zero sense in keeping the data unencrypted in ang cloud. People usually don't share their cycles details on the public internet.
I'm glad this article is about Clue. I hope I can continue to trust them.
I've been using Clue for years and it's nicely trans-friendly and not-pink. When I was first looking for a period app, many options were focused on fertility--either seeking or avoiding pregnancy--which rubbed me the wrong way.
This is awesome, thank you for your service! Goddamn, the premises around that are just... sad.
tf is usa on, why they need perios statistics
- So they can prosecute people for getting illegal abortions.
  
  typical Trump presidency bullshit. Yet they fail to prosecuate many gangsters and rich money launderers. like this was the biggest problem ever
Why US gov need to know about people's period?, that's weird and creepy
What happened to nothing to hide nothing to fear?
- It never got off the ground because it was obviously never true and it just makes anyone who says it dumb?
  
  I thought i didnt need a /s but aparently i do.
- What happened to the "nothing to hide" argument? It was eviscerated. It is not a good argument.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_to_hide_argument
As a man who have been with the same woman the last 20 years I have an extremely limited experience in the field of periods to put it mildly, but what benefits does using these apps give you.
Could you get the same effect from an airgapped notebook?
- How could you have been with a woman for 20 years and not have experience with periods?!?
  Ask her. Talk to her about it ffs.
  
  The point was I have experience with one, she has no use for an app. But for all I know that might be just her
- An app doesn't get lost like a notebook, it builds the calendar for you, it can give recommendations about when fertility is at peak (notebook never talks back), it's always with you when you're in the bathroom. A notebook can work.
  Maybe think of it a bit like watching a movie on DVD and wanting to switch which room it's playing in. It's totally doable, but it's a hassle.With Netflix and a smart TV (or better set up), you get a pretty seamless experience. Add more blood, nausea, cramping, and depression to that scenario.
  A place to keep track of personal notes and details should, you know, be personal.
Good

86 comments