this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2025
848 points (99.2% liked)

Technology

71585 readers
3531 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 news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  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, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
848
Menstrual tracking app data is a ‘gold mine’ for advertisers that risks women’s safety (www.cam.ac.uk)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
132 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Cambridge researchers urge public health bodies like the NHS to provide trustworthy, research-driven alternatives to platforms driven by profit.

Women deserve better than to have their menstrual tracking data treated as consumer data - Prof Gina Neff

Smartphone apps that track menstrual cycles are a “gold mine” for consumer profiling, collecting information on everything from exercise, diet and medication to sexual preferences, hormone levels and contraception use.

This is according to a new report from the University of Cambridge’s Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, which argues that the financial worth of this data is “vastly underestimated” by users who supply profit-driven companies with highly intimate details in a market lacking in regulation.

The report’s authors caution that cycle tracking app (CTA) data in the wrong hands could result in risks to job prospects, workplace monitoring, health insurance discrimination and cyberstalking – and limit access to abortion.

They call for better governance of the booming ‘femtech’ industry to protect users when their data is sold at scale, arguing that apps must provide clear consent options rather than all-or-nothing data collection, and urge public health bodies to launch alternatives to commercial CTAs.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 18 points 6 days ago

Use free and open source software to protect your data. This goes for everybody on any device.

[–] pbg 5 points 5 days ago

flo app makes $192 million a year with 5 million paying users, which seems absolutely wild to me for something that covers such a basic need

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Made my own desktop app in python (tkinter) which encrypts the data with GPG. It has predictions and potential ovulation days. The predictions seem pretty accurate so far.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Has "if it makes a funny noise I'll shoot the computer" vibes, love it

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago

Haha thanks. If you want to check it out, the link is: https://codeberg.org/kingorgg/period_tracker

I haven't tried it on windows though, so I'm not sure if it will work properly on there. It's just a personal project for now. The UI is pretty basic too.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 days ago (2 children)

My wife just asks me to grab her boobs and I can generally let her know several days out and be accurate to within half a day.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 days ago

You need to teach me this skill. Any excuse to get frisky with my wife.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 days ago (1 children)

My wife used to use the tracker in fitbit (I think), but once US states started passing laws to track periods, she's stopped using it. It's the wild west in my house now.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 days ago (1 children)

There are 2 open source menstrual trackers in f-droid. They don't share data.

[–] Corkyskog 12 points 6 days ago

You can also use an analog tracker...

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago

As a trans woman, I make sure to log my irregular bi-weekly periods on flo to make sure their data is tip top!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Yes of course but it's marketing data.

Marketing data. We need it for marketing to people so they can spend money.

Don't you understand! Marketing data!!!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The humans in my family who experience menstrual cycles have been pretty happy with Clue who have an explicit promise to never give up your data. YMMV and of course you should evaluate what a promise from this organization means to you.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

When they get our data, nothing will bring that copy back. ToS never works, libre software does.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

past performance may not predict future. js. mark a calendar

load more comments
view more: next ›