719

The team behind menstrual health and period tracking app Clue has said it will not disclose users' data to American authorities, following Donald Trump's reelection.

The message comes in response to concerns that during Trump's second presidency, abortion bans that followed the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022 will worsen and states will attempt to increase menstrual surveillance in order to further restrict access to terminations.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world 308 points 4 days ago

Research conducted by the Mozilla Foundation indicates that the app referred to in the article, Clue, gathers extensive information and shares certain data with third parties for advertising, marketing, and research reasons.

Here are some menstruation tracking apps that are open-source and prioritize user privacy by keeping your data stored locally on your device:

[-] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 117 points 4 days ago

So the government just needs to acquire this data from one of those third parties if it wants it.

[-] ganymede@lemmy.ml 69 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

so what they're really saying is they won't give it away for free

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] Vanth@reddthat.com 26 points 4 days ago

Drip doesn't save anything to the cloud, it's all local to your device. I can't speak to the others.

Which does mean one has to backup and manually move your tracking history to a new device. Guess who forgot to do that 😂

load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Arbiter@lemmy.world 22 points 4 days ago

The only way to protect data is to not gather it.

[-] Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 4 days ago

Having your own data can be incredibly useful and valuable, the trick is protecting that data so that nefarious actors can't use it.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[-] Paranoidfactoid@lemmy.world 46 points 3 days ago

That will last only until a judge signs a warrant.

[-] ameancow@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago

Or until the American people get bored with talking about it, like with everything else, then stop caring and just let whatever happen.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago

Or until Trump decides to have an army of hackers like Putin.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 64 points 3 days ago

Don't fall for it. Read their privacy policy.

They keep your data in the cloud and share it with third parties, including advertisers.

Pen and paper doesn't snitch.

[-] spujb@lemmy.cafe 24 points 3 days ago

not defending the bogus use of the cloud to host sensitive data, nor do i unquestioningly believe this? but correcting the record since you did 80% of the work in finding the link:

Be assured that the sensitive health data you track in the Clue app is never shared with or sold to advertisers, or any partners whose services we may recommend in Clue.

If you actually read what you sent it seems like the only data that is shared to advertisers is standard marketing stuff like IP, device ID, age group, and location. Still bad and I stand with others recommending locally hosted FOSS alternatives.

[-] Twinklebreeze@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago

There are also foss alternatives. Install fdroid and get drip.

[-] the_crotch@sh.itjust.works 13 points 3 days ago

Drip is a horrible name for a period tracking app lol

[-] CancerMancer@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 days ago

I mean at that point just call it Bleed lol

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Twinklebreeze@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

That was my first thought. Why?

[-] semperverus@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

You guys are talking about it arent ya?

And look how fast you memorized the name.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] moon@lemmy.cafe 19 points 3 days ago

Cool but the proper solution is that they shouldn't have access to this data at all. It should be either stored locally, or encrypted on their servers. Companies not being able to access their consumer data should be the default.

[-] daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com 40 points 3 days ago

Why the hell period data needs to be stored on the cloud?

How much could it weight? A few Kb? Local storage!

I would never trust such data leaving my device when is no need for it whatsoever.

Aren't there any open source period tracking apps? I'll do one, it can't be that hard. An sqlite database patched to a frontend calendar and some basic predictions based on normal scenarios.

[-] Emerald@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Aren’t there any open source period tracking apps?

Many. On F-Droid.

drip. menstrual cycle and fertility tracking (Open-source, non-commercial and leaves your data on your phone.) https://f-droid.org/packages/com.drip/

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] TipRing@lemmy.world 137 points 4 days ago

They say that, but when Ken Paxton subpoenas them they will say they have no choice. It would be better to use an app that doesn't store this data server side at all.

[-] Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io 81 points 4 days ago

FOSS Period Tracking Apps Exist: (there may be others, as well)

https://fossdroid.com/a/bluemoon.html

https://fossdroid.com/a/mensinator.html

https://github.com/TotallyMonica/foss-period-tracker

Also paper and pencil.

Also the oldest known "writing" is a stick with 28 notches on it.

[-] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 17 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

How does an app being FOSS defend them from warrants?

Edit. Thank you guys for the details. I learneded something new today, much appreciated.

[-] gaiussabinus@lemmy.world 34 points 4 days ago

FOSS implies it's your hardware, therefore a subpoena would extract no information because there is no information outside of the users device.

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] otter@lemmy.ca 16 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Something being FOSS doesn't necessarily mean it's safe / ethical, but a LOT of FOSS apps are designed with those principles in mind.

However, being FOSS means that if an app claims that it is safe / ethical (ex. In this case, not storing data anywhere but on your device), you or an experienced peer can check the code to verify that fact.

[-] Pirky@lemmy.world 14 points 4 days ago

It doesn't, but with these apps, you can see what information they send back to their servers (if any). If there is no info getting sent back to any servers, then there's nothing a subpoena can do since there's no info to subpoena. You can't obtain info that just isn't there.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] kingorgg@feddit.uk 6 points 2 days ago

My wife uses a spreadsheet and connected it to her calendar. Seems pretty accurate.

It is a modified version of this:

http://www.alizaaufrichtig.com/period-tracker

[-] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 29 points 3 days ago

Why do they need to save the tracked period data to a server farm? Why can't it just be saved on the phone, huh?

[-] el_abuelo@programming.dev 18 points 3 days ago

Probably because they want to be able to maintain users during device switches. Given much of the world is on an annual or bi-annual cycle it'd suck to lose your users each time.

[-] frayedpickles@lemmy.cafe 7 points 3 days ago

They could just do the password manager approach where the data is encrypted on your phone but stored in the cloud. App retains users, sensitive data remains private.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] irotsoma@lemmy.world 60 points 4 days ago

Yeah they may not cooperate with authorities, but I'm sure they'd be happy to sell it to contractors working on behalf of the government to the same ends. They already sell the info as it is.

[-] taxon@lemmy.world 46 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

If you want an app that stores nothing on the cloud, check it out here on Android and here on IOS. My SO loves it!

[-] timewarp@lemmy.world 65 points 4 days ago

Period tracking apps should store no data at all in the cloud.

[-] rumba@lemmy.zip 39 points 4 days ago

Some people want convenience of accessing the data between devices.

It's okay to store stuff in the cloud just make it's encrypted deeply and thoroughly and that the user is the only person with the key.

There's absolutely no reason for them to have access to this data.

load more comments (9 replies)
load more comments (7 replies)
[-] kureta@lemmy.ml 23 points 3 days ago

menstrual surveillance

Now that's a phrase I would've never thought I would read.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Treczoks@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago

First I thought "WTF is period data a thing that should concern the government", but then I noticed we are talking about the future Handmaids Tale country here.

[-] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 31 points 4 days ago

I wouldn't trust it. We now live in an era where, if you want control of any kind of information, you simply can't share it digitally in any way.

[-] PagingDoctorLove@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

Still not worth the risk to download it. Get a paper journal, they make ones that guide you through tracking all the necessary data.

[-] CancerMancer@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 days ago

Paper without some sort of code to hide what's happening isn't much better, considering if something ever happens you could get searched.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Unknown1234_5@lemmy.world 30 points 4 days ago

This kind of surveillance should be something every platform fights against. Remember that the government does not own you and they are only entitled to any of your data at all when necessary to uphold the law and under a warrant. Protect your right to privacy or they will use what you do I private to justify stripping you of all your other rights in the name of justice they will at that point no longer uphold.

load more comments (8 replies)
[-] Brumefey@sh.itjust.works 17 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Can’t those app offer this feature : replace all the original data by pseudo random data shifting the menstruation cycle in a way that would benefit the user at that moment ? Or : shift all data to x days (easier to undo)

It’s crazy that we live in a world where we have to think about such things…

[-] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 3 points 3 days ago
[-] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 5 points 3 days ago
load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2024
719 points (97.6% liked)

Technology

59370 readers
932 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS