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[85]Privacy

Why US women are deleting their period tracking apps

Even before the supreme court decision to overturn Roe v Wade, the
trend to ditch the apps began amid fears of prosecution
A woman sits holding her phone which is displaying a period tracking
app. On the low table before her is a basket full of menstrual
products.
[ ]
Nearly a third of American woman use period tracking apps which can
collect, retain and share users’ data. Photograph: Isabel
Infantes/Reuters
Nearly a third of American woman use period tracking apps which can
collect, retain and share users’ data. Photograph: Isabel
Infantes/Reuters

[86]Flora Garamvolgyi in Los Angeles
Tue 28 Jun 2022 06.00 EDTLast modified on Tue 28 Jun 2022 10.10 EDT
*
*
*

Many American women in recent days have deleted period tracking apps
from their cellphones, amid fears the data collected by the apps could
be used against them in future criminal cases in states where abortion
has become illegal.

The trend already started last month when a draft supreme court opinion
that suggested the court was set to overturn Roe v Wade was [87]leaked,
and has only intensified since the court on Friday [88]revoked the
federal right to abortion.
TikTok moves to ease fears amid report workers in China accessed US
users’ data
Read more

These concerns are not baseless. As with various other apps, cycle
trackers collect, retain and at times share some of their users’ data.
In a state where abortion is a crime, prosecutors could request
information collected by these apps when building a case against
someone. “If they are trying to prosecute a woman for getting an
illegal abortion, they can subpoena any app on their device, including
period trackers,” said Sara Spector, a Texas-based criminal defense
attorney, and ex-prosecutor.

“But every company has their individual storage and privacy policy
about how they use and how long they store data,” Spector added.

Cycle trackers are popular for a reason. Nearly a third of American
women have been using them, according to a 2019 [89]survey published by
the Kaiser Family Foundation. They have helped make women’s lives
easier in many ways, from family planning and detecting early signs of
health issues to choosing the perfect time for a holiday.

A 2019 study[90] published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) found
that 79% of health apps available through the Google Play store that
were related to medicine, including apps that help manage drugs,
adherence, medicines, or prescribing information, regularly shared user
data and were “far from transparent”. But many of the big players have
made progress over the past years.
A smartphone sits on a light wooden table showing the period tracker
app Clue in the Google Play store.
The Berlin-based period tracker app Clue says it does not store
sensitive personal data without the user’s explicit permission.
Photograph: Piotr Swat/Alamy

Two of the most popular period trackers in the US, Flo and Clue, have
more than 55 million users combined. The Berlin-based app Clue said it
was “committed to protecting” users’ private health data and that it
was operating under strict European GDPR laws. The company’s website
says the app collects device data, event and usage data, in addition to
a user’s IP address, health and sensitive data it may use for the
purpose of improving the app, the services, and preventing abusive use
of its service. But Clue does not track users’ precise location, and
says it does not store sensitive personal data without a user’s
explicit permission. The company also tweeted that it would have a
“primary legal duty under European law” not to disclose any private
health data and it would “not respond to any disclosure request or
attempted subpoena of their users’ health data by US authorities”.

But just because data is being processed by a European company, doesn’t
mean that it is entirely immune from US prosecution, said Lucie
Audibert, a lawyer at [91]Privacy International, a global NGO that
researches, litigates and advocates against abuses of technology and
data by governments and corporations.

“The fact that GDPR applies is not that relevant in this case. When it
comes to a legitimate legal request from US authorities European
companies usually comply. Also, a European company may be hosting data
outside the EU, making it subject to different legal frameworks and
cross-border agreements,” Audibert added. She also stressed that using
a Europe-based app won’t protect women from the courts requesting data
from them directly. But it can be a slightly better option than using a
US-based one because US companies are more easily compelled to comply
with American authorities and courts’ requests. Enforcement is more
difficult against European ones.

Flo has come under fire for sharing its users’ data before. The company
says on its website it only uses data “for research activities” and
that it only uses “de-identified or aggregated data, which cannot be
associated” with specific users. But an [92]investigative piece by the
Wall Street Journal has found that the app informed Facebook when a
user was on their period or if they intended to get pregnant. In 2021,
the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reached a [93]settlement with Flo.
Under the settlement, Flo must undergo an independent review of its
privacy policy and obtain user permissions before sharing personal
health information. Flo did not admit any wrongdoing.

On Friday, Flo [94]announced that it will soon be launching an
“Anonymous mode” that can help keep users’ data safe in any
circumstances.

The company did not respond to a request for comment.

Any app where a company [that could receive a subpoena] has access
to their users’ data could make it vulnerable for a legal request

Evan Greer

A relatively new, astrology-focused period tracker, Stardust, became
the most downloaded free app on iOS in the days after the supreme
court’s decision. Stardust’s Twitter bio says it is a “privacy first
period tracking app”. But as [95]Vice News reported, the company stated
in its privacy policy that if authorities ask for user data, it will
comply, whether legally required to or not. It said that the data was
“anonymized” and “encrypted”.

“We may disclose your anonymized, encrypted information to third
parties in order to protect the legal rights, safety and security of
the company and the users of our services; enforce our terms of
service; prevent fraud; and comply with or respond to law enforcement
or a legal process or a request for cooperation by a government or
other entity, whether or not legally required,” their privacy policy
stated as of Monday.

Following Vice’s request for comment, Stardust changed its privacy
policy to omit the phrase about cooperating with law enforcement
“whether or not legally required” to “when legally required”.

Stardust did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Planned Parenthood encourages people to use their app Spot On. “People
who want to track their periods and birth control always have the
option to remain anonymous by using the Spot On app without creating an
account,” the organization said in a statement. “This way, period or
birth control data is only saved locally to a person’s phone and can be
deleted at any time by deleting the app.”

Third-party apps are not the only option when it comes to period
trackers. Apple has a built-in cycle tracker in its Health app that
offers more privacy than most external apps. With just a few [96]steps,
one can turn off the storing of their health data in iCloud, and it
also has the option to store the encrypted data on their computer or
phone.

Evan Greer, deputy director of the non-profit advocacy group Fight for
the Future, said the best way to protect sensitive health data was to
only use apps that store data locally rather than in the cloud.
“Because any app where a company [that could receive a subpoena] has
access to their users’ data could make it vulnerable for a legal
request.”
An image of an Apple iPhone screen shows app icons, including the
Health app.
Apple’s Health app has a built-in cycle tracker that offers users
privacy. Photograph: Richard Sheppard/Alamy

Eva Blum-Dumontet, a tech policy consultant, said, “It is normal that
in times of concern, people are looking differently at technology and
apps that we trusted.

“I think when there is a discourse around whether women should delete
these apps, we have to think about why they use them in the first
place,” Blum-Dumontet said. “These trackers help them manage menstrual
cycle when they are experiencing pain.”

Blum-Dumontet stressed that instead of asking users to change their
behaviors, “it is period trackers that should change their practices”.

“They should never have owned so much data in the first place. If they
adopted practices like storing data locally and minimizing the data to
what’s strictly necessary we wouldn’t be having this debate now. It’s
not too late for them to do the right thing,” she said.

“The companies that have been making a profit out of women’s bodies
need to think very carefully about how they will protect their users,”
she continued. “They haven’t all been the best in the past when it
comes to data sharing. The only way they can survive in this market,
the only way they can make themselves trustworthy is by improving their
privacy policy and giving users more control over their data,” she
said. “If any of these apps will be used in court against their users,
it will not be good PR for them.”

Melissa, a 27-year-old mother from Texas who is goingby only her first
name to not jeopardize her employment, said she deleted the app because
she fears that when she travels, her state could use her missed period
data against her.

“I will miss using the app so much. I have used it for so many things,
like tracking my ovulation or predicting my mood changes. Sometimes I
wake up feeling irritable, and I don’t know why until my app tells me
that this could be normal at this point of my cycle,” she added.
Melissa also says she would have loved to use it for future
conceptions, but now she can’t.

Although much of the warnings on Friday were focused on just period
trackers these are not the only apps that can be used against users
when it comes to criminal prosecution, experts warned.

“Google Maps or a random game on your phone could just as easily be
weaponized against someone as a menstrual tracking app,” Greer said.
“While we need to educate each other and take precautions, it’s not OK
to put the responsibility solely on individuals. Companies and
lawmakers need to act immediately to protect people.”

The concerns over period tracking data are part of a broader
conversation about the amount of personal information smartphones
collect. Women’s rights organizations all over the world are warning
users to be more mindful of their digital presence, not just when it
comes to period trackers.

Cycle tracking apps can be hugely useful for many women, said Jonathan
Lord, UK medical director for MSI Reproductive Choices. “But all data
can be used against you.”

According to Lord, this danger will remain until “we treat abortion
like all other healthcare – regulated like all other medical
procedures, but not criminalized”.
Topics
* [97]Privacy

* [98]Abortion
* [99]Law (US)
* [100]Menstruation
* [101]Health
* [102]Roe v Wade
* [103]US supreme court
* [104]news

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