If You Are American And Use A Period Tracker App, Download Your Data And Delete It.

If you are American and use a period tracker app, download your data and delete it.

Consumer Reports

What Your Period Tracker App Knows About You

As period tracker apps grow in popularity, so do concerns about what happens to the very personal information they share. Consumer Reports e

Mother Jones

Meet abortion bans' new best friend: your phone

When it comes to reproductive rights, your digital trail matters more than you think.

"News coverage of digital forensics often celebrates its role in prosecuting serious felonies. But when it comes to reproductive rights, Conti-Cook says, the same tools “will be a powerful [asset] to police and prosecutors in a more criminalized landscape” for abortion seekers." [Mother Jones]

"Unlike medical records held by doctors and hospitals, the information collected by health-focused apps isn’t covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a 1996 federal law that limits where healthcare providers can share your health information.

That means health app makers are mostly free to do what they want with the data they collect. [...]

What’s more, even when your data is de-identified by removing identifiable information such as your name or email address, it can be combined with other information—such as your location, contacts, or unique identifiers in your phone—and traced back to you, research suggests." [Consumer Reports]

Twitter thread from user @nandoodles about men in adtech who want to sell your period app data to law enforcement:

If you don't think these people won't use your data against you, I advise you to reconsider in light of Texas's offering bounties. And that there's other states considering offering bounties and vigilantism as well.

I'm sorry, this is not fair and I know it's a pain in the ass to have to note all your info yourself in a journal, but it's better to NOT give these people another tool to exert control over the bodies of people possessing the potential (regardless of how remote) for pregnancy.

Also: support your local abortion funds. Cash is a more difficult trail to follow. https://abortionfunds.org/ways-to-give/