A British Columbia Supreme Court judge says a class-action lawsuit can move forward over alleged privacy breaches against a company that made an app to track users' menstrual and fertility cycles.
VANCOUVER - A British Columbia Supreme Court judge says a class-action lawsuit can move forward over alleged privacy breaches against a company that made an app to track users' menstrual and fertility cycles.
The ruling published online Friday says the action against Flo Health Inc. alleges the company shared users' highly personal health information with third-parties, including Facebook, Google and other companies.
I mean cloud apps are popular because they are convenient. It's just a shame that they are invariably infested with toxic capitalism. And now apparently Christian fascists.
I wrote a period tracker app that also encrypts/password protects the data at rest. If you're concerned about someone taking your phone and accessing your data, it may also be worth a look.
It's 2024. People still assume apps installed on their phones aren't siphoning every single 1 and 0 on your phone including your texts and recordings of your voice calls and then selling that data to a 3rd party advertising firm.
Why in FUCKS name would you put your menstrual cycle data on an app that some stranger made?
Agreed. Although I think the usefulness of the apps are aimed at tracking fertility to help people get pregnant. Which is even more scummy that they sell the data.
There's not a word in this article about why this breach of privacy matters while others do not. It's not stated whether this was in the terms of service for the app, and whether those terms were ruled against.
All kinds of apps have been selling personal information for a long time, and it's been ruled before that it's allowed if they have the proper legalese in the terms of service. Did this app just not have any terms of service?
Why is it a breach of privacy for this app, but other apps doing the same selling of personal data is not?
Why is it a breach of privacy for this app, but other apps doing the same selling of personal data is not?
From the article...
The lawsuit alleges that Flo Health misused users' personal information “for its own financial gain,” claiming breach of privacy, breach of confidence and “intrusion upon seclusion.”
IANAL, but my understanding, after having read the whole article, is that regardless of the fact that there may or may not have been an agreement between the app creator and its users, that they still ran foul of laws that cannot be waived by any sort of TOU/EULA agreement.
Periods are awful to keep track of yourself, it's not a perfect, "every 4 weeks for 5 days" thing. Those apps actually recalculate the beginning and end of a period when something abnormal happens, like stress moving the period back a few days. This way you don't need to keep it in a personal calendar, which mind you, a lot of people don't even have.
Btw, most apps do also more than just regular tracking, they can predict how bad blood flow will be, and if your periods are known to be rather painful, they can keep track and remind you when a day comes on which you'd need to pack a few extra painkillers.
I dislike the commenter's attitude, but I do agree with parts of the message. I would prefer to treat any closed-source, internet-connected app as "collecting everything it can", just because it has been the logic for a while. I would not trust my messaging or files to a centralized, closed platform - so why would I use something suspicious for health data this sensitive?
This way you don’t need to keep it in a personal calendar, which mind you, a lot of people don’t even have.
proton unlimited, proton calendar. Completely private and end-to-end encrypted.
But okay, I guess these apps can be helpful. I still think it's a terrible idea to enter information like that into an app that doesn't guarantee privacy. That's sensitive medical data. I don't give a fuck what any ToS says, no one except you should have the power to give away that kind of information about yourself.