Almost half of period-tracking apps studied used or shared knowledge for third-party promoting, according to an analysis by cybersecurity and VPN firm Surfshark.
The evaluate examined 20 fashionable apps from the Apple App Retailer and ranked every app relying on the quantity and sensitivity of the data they gather. For example, an app obtained one level for knowledge collected that is not linked to a consumer’s id, like app crash data, and three factors for knowledge that would observe customers throughout different web sites, like consumer ID. It additionally added factors for gathering knowledge for third-party promoting.
9 shared knowledge for promoting, whereas 10 collected coarse location, which may’t be tracked to a precise tackle, however can supply extra approximate location data. Eight apps collected picture and video library knowledge.
General, the evaluation ranked Eve, Glow and Ovia highest in how a lot probably delicate knowledge they gather, whereas Apple’s Cycle Monitoring and the Life app ranked the bottom.
WHY IT MATTERS
The cybersecurity agency mentioned its evaluate suggests a lot of this knowledge is not obligatory for the apps to work, because the lowest-ranked apps nonetheless operate for customers.
“Many customers consent to share their private data with out realizing the place their knowledge will find yourself,” Agneska Sablovskaja, knowledge researcher at Surfshark, mentioned in an announcement,
“Our research discovered that 17 out of 20 period-tracker apps collected both one or each well being knowledge or delicate data, which may embrace details about a feminine’s reproductive well being or being pregnant. Tech corporations and apps would possibly share this knowledge with third-party advertisers, knowledge brokers and even authorities establishments. It’s essential to do analysis earlier than downloading something in your telephone as it may be extra dangerous than useful.”
THE LARGER TREND
Privateness and safety issues about ladies’s well being apps have grown in current weeks within the wake of a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that may overturn Roe v. Wade. Some safety specialists have raised concerns knowledge collected in period-tracking apps may probably be used to penalize anybody considering an abortion.
The outcomes from Surfshark’s evaluation had been in step with a study published earlier this month in JMIR, which reviewed cycle-tracking apps and different ladies’s well being instruments. It discovered 20 of the 23 apps studied shared knowledge with third events, whereas solely 16 displayed a privateness coverage and 12 requested consent from customers. Three apps started gathering knowledge earlier than acquiring consent.
