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Grindr Admits It Shared HIV Status Of Users
The same-sex dating app Grindr responded Monday to revelations that it allowed third parties to view the HIV status of users, saying its customers had the option not to supply sensitive information. Grindr acknowledged that information on users' HIV status, including the date they were last tested for the virus, was shared with two companies – Apptimize and Localytics, who were paid to monitor and analyze how the app was being used.
News that the app was sharing the data first appeared in a story by Buzzfeed on Monday. Buzzfeed wrote: "Because the HIV information is sent together with users' GPS data, phone ID, and email, it could identify specific users and their HIV status, according to Antoine Pultier, a researcher at the Norwegian nonprofit SINTEF, which first identified the issue."
In a point-by-point response on its Tumblr page, Grindr said: "It's important to remember that Grindr is a public forum. We give users the option to post information about themselves including HIV status and last test date, and we make it clear in our privacy policy that if you choose to include this information in your profile, the information will also become public." Grindr also said that the information was encrypted and that the company "has never, nor will we ever sell personally identifiable user information – especially information regarding HIV status or last test date – to third parties or advertisers."
San Francisco's ABC7 spoke to Alec Nygard, a user of the app, who said it allows the option of posting "negative," "negative on PrEp," "positive," or "positive-undetected status."
Also at CNN, The Guardian, Bloomberg, and TechCrunch.
Related: Health Insurer Aetna Accidentally Exposes Customers' HIV Statuses With Transparent Envelope Windows
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 04 2018, @12:31AM (3 children)
It's because we don't provide gay men with real sex ed. We also don't do a good job of providing treatment.
The other part is that a small number of gay men have a tremendous amount of sex with most others having about as many partners as straight couples.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Wednesday April 04 2018, @10:51AM (2 children)
I'd be really interested to see a study (if such a thing could be made) comparing levels of promiscuity in the gay community according to how accepted homosexuality is in larger community. It's just my gut feeling, but I wouldn't be in the least surprised to learn that promiscuous behaviour is more likely in places where people have to keep their sexuality a secret. I would certainly expect safe sexual practises to be a lot less likely. Are gay people more monogamous in San Francisco than in Saudi Arabia? Anyone able to offer any insight?
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday April 04 2018, @04:45PM
It would surprise me if such a study could be created with any degree of accuracy. By definition a place where homosexuality is criminalized will be much harder to extract reliable data from and I wouldn't rely upon things like arrest rate. That doesn't mean it isn't out there, though, just that I can't find anything easily.
I would expect, if one accepts that promiscuity is a function of hormonal drives, that there wouldn't be a lot of change. Those drives wouldn't change one way or the other just because the behavior is criminalized - though I'll admit the behavior might.... Instead I'd expect the actions would be pushed underground where detection is harder. And like you I'd foresee safe sex practice to be less practiced due to lack of open information about it. There is apparently some work [nih.gov] on whether mating strategies of social conservative versus social liberal affect the condemnation of same-sex marriage. Dunno if that's addresses the point at all.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday April 04 2018, @04:56PM
An an interesting though unscientific follow up: The myth of gay male promiscuity. [theguardian.com]
This sig for rent.