To preface this, I definitely believe data security in regards to all apps and technology is a huge and legitimate concern.
That said, I’m reading a lot more about the insecurity of data related to period tracking apps in the wake of Roe V Wade and it’s starting to feel like fear mongering at best, pushing people away from a free and reliable mode of natural family planning at worst. You say yourself that there have been no instances of this data being used by law enforcement or anyone else nefariously to date, just that the possibility could hypothetically exist. Considering how the country is backsliding so rapidly away from access to abortion, birth control, and sex education, these apps seem like one of the few affordable and nationally accessible ways for people to take control over their fertility. I’ve been using a period tracker for awhile now to try to get pregnant, and it could just as easily be used as a way to prevent pregnancy. I’m a little uncomfortable with a narrative that pushes this dystopian, Black Mirror-esque “what if,” when our present reality is already dystopian enough in its lack of safe and accessible options. All that considered, is it wise to put people off one of the few options that does exist, imperfect as it may be?
I’ve learned so much about my cycles and fertility through these apps. I’m just thinking about someone who lives in a state with poor sex eduction, no abortion access, and increasingly restrictive birth control options. What options do they have left to easily educate themselves and have a measure of agency in their own family planning?
andricekrispies4 karma
To preface this, I definitely believe data security in regards to all apps and technology is a huge and legitimate concern.
That said, I’m reading a lot more about the insecurity of data related to period tracking apps in the wake of Roe V Wade and it’s starting to feel like fear mongering at best, pushing people away from a free and reliable mode of natural family planning at worst. You say yourself that there have been no instances of this data being used by law enforcement or anyone else nefariously to date, just that the possibility could hypothetically exist. Considering how the country is backsliding so rapidly away from access to abortion, birth control, and sex education, these apps seem like one of the few affordable and nationally accessible ways for people to take control over their fertility. I’ve been using a period tracker for awhile now to try to get pregnant, and it could just as easily be used as a way to prevent pregnancy. I’m a little uncomfortable with a narrative that pushes this dystopian, Black Mirror-esque “what if,” when our present reality is already dystopian enough in its lack of safe and accessible options. All that considered, is it wise to put people off one of the few options that does exist, imperfect as it may be?
I’ve learned so much about my cycles and fertility through these apps. I’m just thinking about someone who lives in a state with poor sex eduction, no abortion access, and increasingly restrictive birth control options. What options do they have left to easily educate themselves and have a measure of agency in their own family planning?
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