Cambridge researchers urge public health bodies like the NHS to provide trustworthy, research-driven alternatives to platforms driven by profit.
Women deserve better than to have their menstrual tracking data treated as consumer data - Prof Gina Neff
Smartphone apps that track menstrual cycles are a “gold mine” for consumer profiling, collecting information on everything from exercise, diet and medication to sexual preferences, hormone levels and contraception use.
This is according to a new report from the University of Cambridge’s Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, which argues that the financial worth of this data is “vastly underestimated” by users who supply profit-driven companies with highly intimate details in a market lacking in regulation.
The report’s authors caution that cycle tracking app (CTA) data in the wrong hands could result in risks to job prospects, workplace monitoring, health insurance discrimination and cyberstalking – and limit access to abortion.
They call for better governance of the booming ‘femtech’ industry to protect users when their data is sold at scale, arguing that apps must provide clear consent options rather than all-or-nothing data collection, and urge public health bodies to launch alternatives to commercial CTAs.
Buffalox@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
For christ sake, is there no open source option for such a simple task?
meme_historian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
There is! It’s called drip and is a project started by a berlin-based feminist collective iirc.
dripapp.org
Free, open-source, local data only
amphy@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Thank you! Had no idea this existed
wise@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
Also trans inclusive which has the double benefit of not being the cliché pink. :)
Zak@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
They probably don’t know about it. If I search “period tracker” on Google Play, Drip is in about 40th place in the results. That’s several screens down, past a bunch of search suggestions, and the parts where it’s open source, on-device, and optionally encrypted aren’t clear until I tap on it and read the description.
There’s some irony in a comment dealing with people making decisions that are against their interests because they’re insufficiently informed speculating incorrectly about something like this when it’s easy to check. Drip is, in fact available for iPhone.
Blackmist@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
Yeah, discoverability is a massive issue on the Play store. If it doesn’t bring Daddy Google 30% of whatever they shovel through in ad money or mtx, then you won’t see it.
Buffalox@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The fact that I got 3 responses that stated it is available on F-droid made me think that. F-droid does not have anything iPhone, because you can’t side-load on iPhone.
LandedGentry@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Buffalox@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I admit that was out of line, but for fucks sake, there are so many stupid people doing stupid things it’s unbearable. Voting for Trump for example. And the Russian people supporting the war on Ukraine.
I’m just so fucking tired of how ignorant people choose to be.
LandedGentry@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
ace_of_based@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
i’d like to point out that it shouldn’t be on women (or anyone) to be on constant guard against attacks on their privacy.
yes, it is the state of the world, but the attitude of your comment is victim blaming.
let’s not forget that while we on Lemmy may be aware of the danger of mass surveillance tech, we’re not the majority.
snowden told us years ago how fucked everything is, and surveillance has only grown since then. let’s not forget that it is not normal that corpo data-mining is the norm (along with included de-facto warrantless surveillance). Even though we all should be better, nobody should have to be as careful as we are.
hell, let’s be real. As long as we use a smartphone, we’re not being careful enough either.
Buffalox@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Oh for fucks sake, I already apologized twice.
Botzo@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Besides drip, Euki (github) is another option on both the play store and iOS.
Note that both of these options are maintained by tiny teams with limited resources.
Buffalox@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
If the apps work as intended, it doesn’t really matter.
Hadriscus@jlai.lu 3 weeks ago
Thank you !
TheImpressiveX@lemmy.today 3 weeks ago
Yes there is.
riquisimo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Periodical. Local storage only, f-droid.
four@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
I couldn’t find a good one, so I’m open to recommendations
Buffalox@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Look at the other comments, apparently drip should be the goto open source app.
enshu@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Periodical f-droid.org/…/de.arnowelzel.android.periodical/ is good.
skvlp@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
Drip looks to be available on Google Play, App Store and F-Droid.
It probably has a lot to do with informing people.
GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
Feedback I’ve heard about Drip was that the interface was slightly wanting. Which is a shame. Sample of one, bear in mind!
Ulrich@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
Because they don’t care. Even if it leads to potential abortion legal charges.
meneervana@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
I think many women just do not know it exists or do not know about the risks of using other apps
Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Like…a spreadsheet?