And it's really hard to track what's going on." OK, but should I delete the app?įor those second-guessing their period-tracking app, Ford says there's a risk vs. "Your data could actually be all over the network at this point. "It's really hard to understand how your data is being used and where it's being shared because it could be many many third parties, and those third parties can also resell to other third parties," Hong says. "Our business model is direct to consumer subscriptions - our users are our customers, nobody else is," the company said.ĭespite such pledges, Jason Hong, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science, cautions that the data a user inputs into a period-tracking app could reach far beyond the phone or the app they're using. The company added that an external, independent privacy audit completed in March "confirmed there are no gaps or weaknesses in our privacy practices."Ĭlue cited the General Data Protection Regulation, EU's data privacy law. In a statement to NPR, the company said it "firmly believes women's health data should be held with the utmost privacy and care at all times, which is why we do not share health data with any third party." Flo did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement. Under the settlement, the FTC said Flo must undergo an independent review of its privacy policy and obtain user permissions before sharing personal health information. The settlement followed a 2019 Wall Street Journal investigation that found the app informed Facebook when a user was having their period or if they informed the app that they intended to get pregnant. Last year, the Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement with the popular fertility and period-tracking app amid allegations that it misled users about the disclosure of their personal health data. The Flo app has come under fire for sharing data before. Wade and the future of reproductive rights in America Removing federal abortion-rights protections may spark new legal fights between states Activist groups - regardless of what they're advocating for - might try to purchase a dataset that would show where people have been searching for information related to abortion. Search histories could also be identifying, says Brown. "Any app that is collecting sensitive information about your health or your body should be given an additional level of scrutiny," Greer says. If someone is sitting in the waiting room of a clinic that offers abortion services and is playing a game on their phone, that app might be collecting location data, she says. It's more than just period appsĮvan Greer, director of the digital rights advocacy group Fight for the Future, says period apps aren't the only ways technology can be used to connect someone to an abortion. Missouri banned nearly all abortions following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Two days after the leaked Supreme Court opinion was first reported by Politico, lawmakers in Louisiana advanced a bill that would classify abortion as a homicide. Wade and the future of reproductive rights in America GOP playbook on abortion is to push Democrats on restrictions and contort their wordsīut some states had already signaled an interest to go further.
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