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Even worse than Facebook chats... the most popular period tracking apps can be mass surveilled, and at least one has been fined by the FTC for selling menstrual

Even worse than Facebook chats... the most popular period tracking apps can be mass surveilled, and at least one has been fined by the FTC for selling menstrual data. My partner, a menstrual health advocate, decided to do something about it. She's launching a local-first, encrypted period tracking app later this summer [0]. We'd love feedback as the beta goes live! [0] - https://embody.space https://embody.space

Dig1t 3y ago
The Apple Health app does this already. Everything in HealthKit is e2e encrypted.
- mhluongo 3y ago
  A few of my tech guy friends have given this knee-jerk response. However... Flo isn't. Clue isn't. Most apps women actually use aren't. HealthKit is cool, but we need apps that aren't sending data home *and* that solve common menstrual needs, and Apple's stuff barely scratches the surface.
friend_and_foe 3y ago
Why does menstual data have to be encrypted in the first place? Why can it not just live on the device? There are FOSS trackers (I've tried them; not a woman but I used them to help teach my wife to track her cycle) and they work wonders. There's one called Log28 on f-droid for anyone interested, that's the best one I found.
- mhluongo 3y ago
  In states like Texas...? Like the article mentions, this data is sensitive and prosecutors are going after it. If your phone is in custody and doesn't have a strong passphrase, or uses touch ID... not great. I agree open source and local-only are great! Defense in depth is ideal
  - friend_and_foe 3y ago
    Sure, but when someone says "your data is encrypted" usually that means it's going to a cloud server somewhere, and that makes me feel the need to ask what the business case is, how is that case opposed to my interest and what would the host do if compelled with a warrant for the data.
    - mhluongo 3y ago
      Oh, in our case we're talking about local encryption at rest... resilient in case a phone is lost or physically compromised. > Sure, but when someone says "your data is encrypted" usually that means it's going to a cloud server somewhere This says a lot about the health of surveillance capitalism today, not gonna lie.

Dig1t 3y ago

The Apple Health app does this already. Everything in HealthKit is e2e encrypted.

mhluongo 3y ago
A few of my tech guy friends have given this knee-jerk response. However... Flo isn't. Clue isn't. Most apps women actually use aren't. HealthKit is cool, but we need apps that aren't sending data home *and* that solve common menstrual needs, and Apple's stuff barely scratches the surface.

friend_and_foe 3y ago

Why does menstual data have to be encrypted in the first place? Why can it not just live on the device? There are FOSS trackers (I've tried them; not a woman but I used them to help teach my wife to track her cycle) and they work wonders. There's one called Log28 on f-droid for anyone interested, that's the best one I found.

mhluongo 3y ago
In states like Texas...? Like the article mentions, this data is sensitive and prosecutors are going after it. If your phone is in custody and doesn't have a strong passphrase, or uses touch ID... not great. I agree open source and local-only are great! Defense in depth is ideal
- friend_and_foe 3y ago
  Sure, but when someone says "your data is encrypted" usually that means it's going to a cloud server somewhere, and that makes me feel the need to ask what the business case is, how is that case opposed to my interest and what would the host do if compelled with a warrant for the data.
  - mhluongo 3y ago
    Oh, in our case we're talking about local encryption at rest... resilient in case a phone is lost or physically compromised. > Sure, but when someone says "your data is encrypted" usually that means it's going to a cloud server somewhere This says a lot about the health of surveillance capitalism today, not gonna lie.