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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday September 11 2019, @02:47AM   Printer-friendly
from the oversharing dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Intimate data, including when people have had sex, is being shared with Facebook, a study from Privacy International has suggested.

It included details such as what contraception was used, when periods were due and the type of symptoms experienced.

Since the investigation, one app said it was changing its privacy policies.

Menstruation apps collect some of the most intimate data imaginable - from general health, to information about sex, moods, what the user eats, drinks and even what sanitary products she uses.

In exchange for this, the app will offer the user the dates of the month she is most fertile or when to expect her next period.

Sharing to Facebook happens via the social network's software development kit (SDK), tools that can be used by apps to help them make money by reaching advertisers who, in turn, provide users with personalised ads.

PI found the most popular apps in this category - Period Tracker, Period Track Flo and Clue Period Tracker did not share data with Facebook.

But others - such as Maya by Plackal Tech (which has 5 million downloads on Google Play), MIA by Mobapp Development Limited (1 million downloads) and My Period Tracker by Linchpin Health (more than 1 million downloads) - did.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday September 11 2019, @02:50AM (5 children)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Wednesday September 11 2019, @02:50AM (#892501) Journal

    There is an old saying: three can keep a secret if two are dead. When an app is being used, there are three people who have the data: the user, the app, and anyone/anything that has access to the app's data store (okay, so maybe more, a LOT more, than three people).

    Why does anyone feel the need to do this? If it must be done, why not use an Excel spreadsheet or something? Know what I call MY period tracker? A calendar!

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @03:41AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @03:41AM (#892512)

      Yeah, but this should still be illegal; a lot of people fall for this nonsense, and even give away other people's data. Privacy regulations should be so strict that companies like Facebook can no longer afford to exist.

    • (Score: 2) by bart9h on Wednesday September 11 2019, @04:24AM (1 child)

      by bart9h (767) on Wednesday September 11 2019, @04:24AM (#892528)

      Or, you know, use a Free app that respects you.

      My wife uses this one [arnowelzel.de].

      I use apps from F-Droid as often as possible.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @07:22AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @07:22AM (#892581)

        I use apps from F-Droid when possible as well. But phones are pretty opaque about the difference between data that's private and data that's shared with the world. I'm not sure how to do better about that: any app that is granted internet access can share its data with the world and that's pretty much every app (in part because they want internet access for ads).

        Maybe app stores could require explicit disclosure of privacy impacts. That is, something like "this app shares all data you enter with advertising partners" vs. "this app's data only leaves the device as encrypted backups" vs. "this app's data is private to your device" (erm, with better wording and probably a color-coded badge). At least if the app store page had a badge like that there would be some possibility people would be informed the privacy choices they were making, even if most people would ignore it. Currently, there's no reasonable way for a common user to suspect that an app is exfiltrating their data other than somehow being informed by a more technical friend or family member of the (justified) paranoia that probably every single app is. In practice, such a scheme would probably be too difficult to enforce and too easily ignored.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @07:32AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @07:32AM (#892584)

      Why does anyone feel the need to do this? If it must be done, why not use an Excel spreadsheet or something? Know what I call MY period tracker? A calendar!

      Is that a paper calendar or on a computer?

      You know that Excel spreadsheet is probably not shared with anyone. At worst, Microsoft may have access to it (Office pushes saving things to OneDrive pretty strongly; users could easily get confused and not realize they've shared their documents with Microsoft; I've never used Excel on iOS/Android, so I don't know if it even has an option to not share your documents with Microsoft), but they probably aren't analyzing it for period tracking patterns.

      On the other hand, how is a common user to know that trusting Excel with their data is okay but trusting this specific period tracker is not. Both appear to be ways to write data down on their own device. Phone apps do an extremely poor job of communicating to users where their data could possibly be shared. It's common to assume this means users don't care about their privacy when another likely explanation is that users have no way to know whether their privacy is being invaded. Unsurprisingly, information they don't know doesn't affect their behavior.

      • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday September 11 2019, @11:03PM

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Wednesday September 11 2019, @11:03PM (#892944) Journal

        Paper calendar. And, your points are fair, but they also serve to highlight just how dirty people are being done by these companies. I don't see a solution, as "big data" is making too much money for too many people for virtually no effort, and money is the same thing as political power these days :/

        --
        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
  • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @02:52AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @02:52AM (#892502)

    Come on fellas, how about we cut out the specific pronouns here and stick with something approved as gender neutral.

    If a person identifies as he, then their menstrual cycle should be tagged as such.

    Sheez. Do we really have to remind everyone all the plurry time.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @04:01AM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @04:01AM (#892519)

      Wow. This is a serious fail.

      I know you were trying to be obnoxious and hammer the whole "gender identity" thing.

      The really amusing part is that TFS didn't use any pronouns at all. Rather they referred to the folks with functioning uteri as "users" and didn't apply any gendered pronouns *at all*.

      Damn, you're stupid.

      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @04:16AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @04:16AM (#892523)

        The really amusing part is that TFS didn't use any pronouns at all. Rather they referred to the folks with functioning uteri as "users" and didn't apply any gendered pronouns *at all*.

        Erm, reading fail? Regardless of what we think of them TFS definitely uses gendered pronouns... "... what sanitary products she uses ... dates of the month she is most fertile or when to expect her next period."

        Damn, you're stupid.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @09:48AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @09:48AM (#892599)

        I am not GP, and I am not attempting to troll or flame, although I agree that GP was. Your point is a good one that TFA does stay appropriately gender neutral.

        But the lame attempt does bring up one thing to consider: In the transsexual world there are Female to Male transitioners who have not had surgery. Some do not want surgery. Yet they identify as male. This is one instance where you would have a man who does have periods.

        I never thought about that until I met a MtF who pointed out that she still has a prostate which must be examined.

      • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday September 11 2019, @05:50PM

        by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday September 11 2019, @05:50PM (#892828) Journal

        Triggered by his own shadow!

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @03:29AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @03:29AM (#892509)

    Can I ask facebook if it is safe to fuck her procreation wise? For a few bucks...

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @03:36PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @03:36PM (#892737)

      Better question...
      Is it chicken or fish on the menu today?

  • (Score: 2) by black6host on Wednesday September 11 2019, @03:58AM (4 children)

    by black6host (3827) on Wednesday September 11 2019, @03:58AM (#892518) Journal

    I don't have anything to worry about here!!! Well, because I don't have a facebook account, you know?

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @05:49AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @05:49AM (#892557)

      Don't worry - they have one for you.

      https://boingboing.net/2018/04/12/ill-get-back-to-you.html [boingboing.net]

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @06:29AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @06:29AM (#892568)

      I don't have to worry because I don't have a sex life!

      • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday September 11 2019, @09:22AM (1 child)

        by MostCynical (2589) on Wednesday September 11 2019, @09:22AM (#892595) Journal

        What about people with neither?

        --
        "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @05:45PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @05:45PM (#892823)

          What about people with neither?

          It's OK. Since you read and post here I'm pretty sure they already know you have neither.

  • (Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @04:53AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @04:53AM (#892538)

    We all know everything is being mined and shared. The majority of people don't care and they continue using these services/apps regardless of how many articles like this they read. I'm not even sure the problem can be resolved with legislation at this point. Hell, Facebook was recently dragged before Congress and slapped with a massive fine that resulted in nearly zero change. Turns out that massive fine was still too insignificant to matter; cost of doing business and business is oh so gooood!

    Show of hands, who here closed their FB account after the last major scandal? Doesn't matter, the total number is so small it's practically a rounding error in the stats. The entire US population could close their FB account and it would barely dent the machine. Same will be true for the women using the menstruation app. A bit of outrage followed by a hollow apology and promise to do better by the company, but no meaningful action will result.

    / * end rant */

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by maxwell demon on Wednesday September 11 2019, @07:20AM

      by maxwell demon (1608) on Wednesday September 11 2019, @07:20AM (#892579) Journal

      Show of hands, who here closed their FB account after the last major scandal?

      Couldn't do it. Never opened one.

      The entire US population could close their FB account and it would barely dent the machine.

      I doubt that. If the entire US population closed their FB accounts, I'm pretty sure FB would be in deep trouble.

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @07:29PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @07:29PM (#892869)

      We all know everything is being mined and shared.

      We know that. The majority of people, probably not. And even if they do, they lack the tech savvy to distinguish ways of using a compute that preserve their privacy from ones that violate it. If the message they get is "if you exist in the modern world, you have no privacy", then there's nothing actionable there.

      BTW, while the issue in the article is about data being shared with Facebook, there's no mention of Facebook on the user side. The app developer shared information with Facebook through their ad personalization.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @12:45PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @12:45PM (#892649)

    So logging what goes in and out and how we feel is a useful medical information gathering process,
    it can lead to a better understanding of what to do to feel better,
    or why we feel bad even if we are unwilling to change.

    That said, why on earth would one choose to do it on a platform that has the rights and desire to exploit the information?

    Likely exploitation methods:
    So, when is the best time to try to sell X?
    Was Joe having a bad day (due to his own doing) in when he did Y?
    Is it a good idea to do business Z with Sue?

  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday September 11 2019, @04:29PM

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 11 2019, @04:29PM (#892775) Journal

    Why isn't it called Stealing ?

    Everyone on their block shared their car radio with a hooded guy sometime last night at about 2 AM.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 12 2019, @01:32AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 12 2019, @01:32AM (#893010)

    TFS title should read: "Sex Lives Of App Users 'Shared With Yakima Police Department'"

    How to steal an American city: Montes v. City of Yakima - https://www.aclu-wa.org/cases/montes-v-city-yakima-0 [aclu-wa.org]

    Embezzlement & swindling at the state level: McCleary, et al. v. State of Washington - Supreme Court Case Number 84362-7: https://www.courts.wa.gov/appellate_trial_courts/supremecourt/?fa=supremecourt.mccleary_education [wa.gov]

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