Mozilla, the company behind the Firefox browser, has a series of articles where they provide "privacy reviews" on products. They have a section on reproductive health:...
Exemplary
Mozilla, the company behind the Firefox browser, has a series of articles where they provide "privacy reviews" on products. They have a section on reproductive health: https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/categories/reproductive-health/ . I'm not actually sure how useful this content is, but it might be somewhat helpful to someone looking for a semi-consistent comparison of different products.
Also if you're on Android (or on iOS in the EU?), installing open-source health apps could also one a way to get some piece of mind. The incentive for open-source developers to collect and sell user data usually isn't high enough to surmount the technical and cultural hurdles.
Tangentially, it's worrying that this pattern of "tech app mishandles sensitive data" continues to occurs across sectors of tech where it'd be very reasonable to assume a higher standard of privacy:
The trouble with paper books is they are easily seized and are trivially subject to subpoena. Given that we have states talking about "monitoring" pregnant women, physical tracking is major...
The trouble with paper books is they are easily seized and are trivially subject to subpoena. Given that we have states talking about "monitoring" pregnant women, physical tracking is major security risk versus something with strong and trustworthy encryption.
They can also be done inconspicuously or in code. A standard date book with some lightly circled dates, or something like "book club" scheduled once a month might not register as a menstrual tracker.
They can also be done inconspicuously or in code. A standard date book with some lightly circled dates, or something like "book club" scheduled once a month might not register as a menstrual tracker.
Can someone explain why these apps would need to receive any data in the first place? What do the companies do with it that requires the specific data? I feel like this sort of app should be able...
Can someone explain why these apps would need to receive any data in the first place? What do the companies do with it that requires the specific data? I feel like this sort of app should be able to work fine totally offline.
There are two main legitimate reasons apps like this would need this data. One is to save it remotely so that if, say, you switch phones, the data can be accessed by just logging into their...
There are two main legitimate reasons apps like this would need this data. One is to save it remotely so that if, say, you switch phones, the data can be accessed by just logging into their servers. This may seem silly to the privacy-conscious, but it's a convenience feature for the average person.
The other that I've seen apps like this advertise is making predictions based on your input. For actual period timing ofc you don't need this, since if you have a regular cycle it's not a particularly complicated calculation, but a lot of these advertise a lot of symptom tracking features and the idea would be that they can find patterns in your symptoms in association with your cycle. This again may seem like data they'd obviously sell to the privacy-conscious, but it's an appealing idea to most people looking for a period or fertility tracker.
None of these things are worth the risks in most of the US, of course, and it's arguably not worth the risk even without the criminal threat, since these companies are very likely selling this data. But the average consumer doesn't really think of that and just cares about what features and convenience they get out of the app.
Some of them are offline. I remember this becoming a concern particularly after Roe v Wade was overturned. While I'm sure there are others, drip is offline and open source so one can even verify...
Some of them are offline. I remember this becoming a concern particularly after Roe v Wade was overturned. While I'm sure there are others, drip is offline and open source so one can even verify for themselves it stays offline. Not sure if it does any encryption though.
Only 2 apps out of 20 made it through a privacy review by folks from mozilla 2 years ago Drip is not among them, but everything I can find is that it's a reasonable option. It apparently is more...
Feel free to mark this as off-topic, but could we change "female health" in the title to "reproductive health" or something? I know that's not the same as the article title but it's both more...
Feel free to mark this as off-topic, but could we change "female health" in the title to "reproductive health" or something? I know that's not the same as the article title but it's both more inclusive and more accurate.
Done. cc: @sparksbet BTW, I won't be around much for the next week or two or three, since we're in the middle of doing a bunch of work around our house in prep for potentially putting it on the...
BTW, I won't be around much for the next week or two or three, since we're in the middle of doing a bunch of work around our house in prep for potentially putting it on the market. So if you or anyone else needs topic edits done in that time, it's probably better to ping @mycketforvirrad or @Deimos asking for help instead of me. I will still try to check in at least once a day to help out where I can, but for the next week I'm going to be doing lots of pretty physically demanding landscaping work, so I likely won't have much spare energy left for doing regular maintenance stuff on Tildes.
That announcement might be worth a unique post. Best of luck with the work. I think you get more pings because your name is easier to spell without looking it up.
That announcement might be worth a unique post.
Best of luck with the work. I think you get more pings because your name is easier to spell without looking it up.
Thanks for the wellwishes (you too @sparkbet). :) I don't think it warrants a post. I will still be checking the site every day, and so can still do some stuff, but my response time will be a lot...
I don't think it warrants a post. I will still be checking the site every day, and so can still do some stuff, but my response time will be a lot slower than normal, and for the next week I might not have much energy to spend tagging or editing topics. I will throw a note in my profile bio though, so people aren't confused about why I'm not responding right away like I normally do.
And yeah, I suspect my name being a lot easier to remember and spell than @mycketforvirrad's is the cause of me being pinged more often. Plus people probably don't want to bother Deimos over such minor things. :P
Mozilla, the company behind the Firefox browser, has a series of articles where they provide "privacy reviews" on products. They have a section on reproductive health: https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/categories/reproductive-health/ . I'm not actually sure how useful this content is, but it might be somewhat helpful to someone looking for a semi-consistent comparison of different products.
Also if you're on Android (or on iOS in the EU?), installing open-source health apps could also one a way to get some piece of mind. The incentive for open-source developers to collect and sell user data usually isn't high enough to surmount the technical and cultural hurdles.
Tangentially, it's worrying that this pattern of "tech app mishandles sensitive data" continues to occurs across sectors of tech where it'd be very reasonable to assume a higher standard of privacy:
Tele-Health
Dating Apps:
Cars:
If I was a woman in the U.S., especially a red state, I would not tough a period tracking app.
Best to go back to the paper books.
The trouble with paper books is they are easily seized and are trivially subject to subpoena. Given that we have states talking about "monitoring" pregnant women, physical tracking is major security risk versus something with strong and trustworthy encryption.
Paper books are easily hidden, and they can't be searched for without a warrant
They can also be done inconspicuously or in code. A standard date book with some lightly circled dates, or something like "book club" scheduled once a month might not register as a menstrual tracker.
If you use an iPhone, end to end encrypted cycle tracking is available in the health app
I would use that over any 3rd party app.
Can someone explain why these apps would need to receive any data in the first place? What do the companies do with it that requires the specific data? I feel like this sort of app should be able to work fine totally offline.
Then they can't sell your data though. :-)
There are two main legitimate reasons apps like this would need this data. One is to save it remotely so that if, say, you switch phones, the data can be accessed by just logging into their servers. This may seem silly to the privacy-conscious, but it's a convenience feature for the average person.
The other that I've seen apps like this advertise is making predictions based on your input. For actual period timing ofc you don't need this, since if you have a regular cycle it's not a particularly complicated calculation, but a lot of these advertise a lot of symptom tracking features and the idea would be that they can find patterns in your symptoms in association with your cycle. This again may seem like data they'd obviously sell to the privacy-conscious, but it's an appealing idea to most people looking for a period or fertility tracker.
None of these things are worth the risks in most of the US, of course, and it's arguably not worth the risk even without the criminal threat, since these companies are very likely selling this data. But the average consumer doesn't really think of that and just cares about what features and convenience they get out of the app.
Some of them are offline. I remember this becoming a concern particularly after Roe v Wade was overturned. While I'm sure there are others, drip is offline and open source so one can even verify for themselves it stays offline. Not sure if it does any encryption though.
Only 2 apps out of 20 made it through a privacy review by folks from mozilla 2 years ago
Drip is not among them, but everything I can find is that it's a reasonable option. It apparently is more annoying on a features level.
Feel free to mark this as off-topic, but could we change "female health" in the title to "reproductive health" or something? I know that's not the same as the article title but it's both more inclusive and more accurate.
Pinging @cfabbro, if you would please help.
(Original posters can't later edit titles)
Done. cc: @sparksbet
BTW, I won't be around much for the next week or two or three, since we're in the middle of doing a bunch of work around our house in prep for potentially putting it on the market. So if you or anyone else needs topic edits done in that time, it's probably better to ping @mycketforvirrad or @Deimos asking for help instead of me. I will still try to check in at least once a day to help out where I can, but for the next week I'm going to be doing lots of pretty physically demanding landscaping work, so I likely won't have much spare energy left for doing regular maintenance stuff on Tildes.
Thanks for the help, and best of luck with your house sale!
That announcement might be worth a unique post.
Best of luck with the work. I think you get more pings because your name is easier to spell without looking it up.
Thanks for the wellwishes (you too @sparkbet). :)
I don't think it warrants a post. I will still be checking the site every day, and so can still do some stuff, but my response time will be a lot slower than normal, and for the next week I might not have much energy to spend tagging or editing topics. I will throw a note in my profile bio though, so people aren't confused about why I'm not responding right away like I normally do.
And yeah, I suspect my name being a lot easier to remember and spell than @mycketforvirrad's is the cause of me being pinged more often. Plus people probably don't want to bother Deimos over such minor things. :P