Period-tracking apps are rushing to revisit their privacy settings and caution users about court orders for information in the wake of the Supreme Court’s...
Last Friday, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that gave women federal legal protection to have an abortion. It will now be up to each state to set their own laws on abortion.
Following the decision, women have expressed concerns and fears on social media about menstruation data logged in their period-tracking apps, and some apps have acknowledged that they may be forced to hand over data if required to do so by a court order or a subpoena. The concern is that information about a woman’s menstrual cycle could be used as evidence against her if she seeks to terminate a pregnancy after a state’s deadline for a legal abortion.
Pregnancy- and period-tracking apps could pose a risk to users by exposing their information to third parties, according to a report by Atlas VPN that analyzed 10 of these pregnancy- and period-tracking apps. “Apps dedicated to women’s health, like pregnancy or period trackers, heavily collect sensitive data and share it with third parties,” the report said.
Glow, the San Francisco, Calif.-based parent company of several pregnancy- and period-tracking health apps, issued a statement on Twitter saying it values user trust and promised to “uncompromisingly protect our users’ privacy and personal health information.” Some apps insisted they would vigorously resist any request by state governments for user information, and said they would close their company before yielding to such a request. “We would rather close down the company than be an accomplice to this type of government overreach and privacy violation,” GP Apps, the parent company of Period Tracker app, said in a blog post.
“Like any other company or person that is subject to U.S. jurisdiction, it is possible that Ovia could receive a legally-binding request from government or law enforcement,” it added. It directed users to: How Does Ovia Respond to Data Requests.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
How to delete your period tracking app dataDeleting the apps won’t fully protect you, but here’s how to get started.
Read more »
No Choice: Fighting for Abortion RightsApps and virtue signaling won’t save abortion rights, says legal analyst Imani Gandy.
Read more »
Pricing 101 - Create Pricing Strategies For Your App and Maximize Your Revenue | HackerNoonDetermining your app pricing is important to maximize the potential of your app. In this article, we’ve uncovered how to get started on pricing for your app.
Read more »
FIFA will track players’ bodies using AI to make offside calls at 2022 World CupAnother step towards automated referees
Read more »