But it will still disclose that data to advertising companies which WILL give it to the authorities for a nominal fee
Also, why does the app keep that data in a centralized location where it can be scooped up like that?
And more importantly, people have known that everything is spyware since the Snowden leaks, why the hell would you ever give that kind of data to an app on your phone? Even if the app was totally E2EE and private, other things on your phone do all kinds of spying
Why US gov need to know about people’s period?, that’s weird and creepy
To get the needle, you need the whole haystack. Collect everything decrypt later
tf is usa on, why they need perios statistics
So they can prosecute people for getting illegal abortions.
They shouldn’t be collecting it in the first place, store the logs locally (and encrypted tbh) on the user’s device.
This is awesome, thank you for your service! Goddamn, the premises around that are just… sad.
Why does a period tracking app even need to store the data anywhere other than locally?
their given reasons are “to keep backups” and “academic and clinical research with de-identified datasets”
they seem to actually do a fairly good job with anonymizing the research datasets, unlike most “anonymized research data”, though for the raw data stored on their servers, they do not seem to use encryption properly and their security model is “the cloud hoster wouldn’t spy on the data right?” (hint: their data is stored on american servers, so the american authorities can just subpoena Amazon Web Services directly, bypassing all their “privacy guarantees”. (the replacement for the EU-US Privacy Shield seems to be on very uncertain legal grounds, and that was before the election))
De-identified data is an oxymoron. Basically any dataset that’s in any way interesting is identifiable.
no it’s not. If you reduce the information in the datapoints until none of them are unique, then it is very obviously impossible to uniquely identify someone from them. And when you have millions of users the data can definitely still be kept interesting
Sometimes people get new phones 🤷♀️
dude, phones have built-in functions to transfer data seamlessly, i helped my dad with that a while back and it amounts to pressing some buttons and putting the phones on top of each other…
if that’s too difficult i think you need a personal assistant.
You can what?! I’ve been using a USB drive…
Not that I’m complaining, the USB is easy enough, but of what wizardry do you speak?
I think it’s only available on stock OSes, it’s one of those things we tech nerds sacrifice for freedom.
But for the kind of person who uses a period app connected to the internet, yeah that’s not a problem lmao.fwiw there are apps to make migrating easier on custom OSes as well, a quick search shows at least BARIA on f-droid.
Why are you being so condescending?
Phones get lost, stolen, damaged beyond repair. I knew a woman whose phone fell into a body of water on vacation and couldn’t be recovered.
When you have an app used by millions of people, which they depend on for tracking wellness, health issues, reproductive planning, etc. it makes sense to have a cloud backup for those inevitable situations.
Also yes, not everyone knows how to initiate an NFC file transfer, or even how to navigate their phone’s file system to select the data to transfer. You often have to develop software to the lowest common denominator. There’s open source options like Mensinator for people who want more control and privacy, but most software on the app store is targeted at less technical people.
Then that data should be stored encrypted, salted, hashed, smashed, mashed, and passed so that only the person who is moving phones can open it
Not just for being made to give it over but also like leaks n shit
Boiled too
stick em in a stew?
Sure, personally I think we should do that for all personal data. It’s a bit depressing that period trackers are being targeted in this way though.
I’m glad this article is about Clue. I hope I can continue to trust them.
I’ve been using Clue for years and it’s nicely trans-friendly and not-pink. When I was first looking for a period app, many options were focused on fertility–either seeking or avoiding pregnancy–which rubbed me the wrong way.
It makes zero sense in keeping the data unencrypted in ang cloud. People usually don’t share their cycles details on the public internet.
As a man who have been with the same woman the last 20 years I have an extremely limited experience in the field of periods to put it mildly, but what benefits does using these apps give you.
Could you get the same effect from an airgapped notebook?
An app doesn’t get lost like a notebook, it builds the calendar for you, it can give recommendations about when fertility is at peak (notebook never talks back), it’s always with you when you’re in the bathroom. A notebook can work.
Maybe think of it a bit like watching a movie on DVD and wanting to switch which room it’s playing in. It’s totally doable, but it’s a hassle.With Netflix and a smart TV (or better set up), you get a pretty seamless experience. Add more blood, nausea, cramping, and depression to that scenario.
A place to keep track of personal notes and details should, you know, be personal.
How could you have been with a woman for 20 years and not have experience with periods?!?
Ask her. Talk to her about it ffs.
The point was I have experience with one, she has no use for an app. But for all I know that might be just her
I know it’s not feasible, but if a lot of males would just use the apps that are know to report to US authorities and input data, that most likely will raise a alarms, they would have to deal with heaps of false-positives and it would obscure the real data.
I just experienced my first period as a 38 year old male. I know almost nothing about them, so this is gonna be a wild ride for anyone who reads my stats.
Wouldn’t that just break the app?
I’m just assuming they use user data to improve the health data shown, if people are going to fill it up with bogus data, it just destroys whatever use this app has for women.
Do you want to be protected or do you want the app optimized pick one
I’m in. Anyone know of any apps that DO report data?
Same, ready to poison data against fascists anytime.
Good
What happened to nothing to hide nothing to fear?
It never got off the ground because it was obviously never true and it just makes anyone who says it dumb?
I thought i didnt need a /s but aparently i do.
What happened to the “nothing to hide” argument? It was eviscerated. It is not a good argument.
female and male staff members at Clue, based in Berlin
Basiert und in Berlin.
𝕯𝖎𝖊𝖘𝖊 𝕶𝖔𝖒𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖆𝖗𝖘𝖊𝖐𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 𝖎𝖘𝖙 𝖓𝖚𝖓 𝕰𝖎𝖌𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖚𝖒 𝖉𝖊𝖗 𝕭𝖚𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖘𝖗𝖊𝖕𝖚𝖇𝖑𝖎𝖐 𝕯𝖊𝖚𝖙𝖘𝖈𝖍𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖉
DO NOT put this kind of information in an app!
If you absolutely have to have it in your phone, use the calendar and pick some event that’s plausible monthly with a unique name so you can search on it. “Checked for Mxyzlptik updates”, “Look at travel to Canada prices” or whatever.
If you need more functionality than that you’ll need an offline solution. We live in a fascist dictatorship now. They hate women. And they will 100% use that information against you if they can.
Can I get a reminder about the apps that WILL share with the govt so I can help fuck with their data?
All US-based apps and all the apps that store their data in US-owned cloud providers at very least.
US based apps that’s are end-to-end encrypted where you control the private keys cannot physically share as they won’t have access. Even if it’s in their cloud.
until they get forced to issue an update that steals your key.
assuming you installed the app from google play.
since for a few years now google holds the signing keys that are used for verifying that the app has not been tampered with, the app developer is not even needed for this. google can make the changes, sign the app with the key they already have, and push an update to your phone.If the nice people at the FBI show up to your door with a warrant from a secret court set up by Trump show up to your office telling you either implement a backdoor in your app or everyone goes to jail forever, what do you do?
Start blasting.
the devs don’t even need to know about it. google has the app signing keys, they can make a change anytime they want. read my reply to their comment
