Data From Apps for Monthly Cycles May Be Used Against You.

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(NOTE: I thought women would like to be informed about this, so I will just post and back out of the discussion.)

 Should you worry about data from your period-tracking app being used against you? 

After the Roe v. Wade draft opinion leak, social media users started telling people to delete their period-tracking app data in case it could be used to prosecute them.  Privacy experts said this is a valid concern, and people should weigh the benefits of using such an app.  Could this data be used in a criminal prosecution? Experts said the short answer is yes.

It is estimated that millions of people in the U.S. use period-tracking apps to plan ahead, track when they are ovulating, and monitor other health effects.  The apps can help signal when a period is late.

Many users recommended immediately deleting all personal data from period-tracking apps.

"If you are using an online period tracker or tracking your cycles through your phone, get off it and delete your data," activist and attorney Elizabeth McLaughlin said in a viral tweet.  "Now."

Similarly, Eva Galperin, a cybersecurity expert, said the data could "be used to prosecute you if you ever choose to have an abortion."

I am bumping this thread to re-issue a warning that has become more relevant after the recent SCOTUS ruling against Roe v. Wade.

Your Internet data could be used to enforce anti-abortion laws against you!

The Supreme Court's Friday ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade is almost certain to spark a wave of new state legislation taking aim at abortion rights, and to reinforce existing laws that prohibit and, in some cases, criminalize the procedure. Among the wide-ranging potential implications of the decision are concerns about the potential use of personal data to punish people who look for information about or access to abortion services online.

In some of the most restrictive states, digital rights experts warn that people's search histories, location data, messages and other digital information could be used by law enforcement agencies investigating or prosecuting abortion-related cases.

For example, in states that make it a crime to help an abortion-seeker, data from women's period-tracking or pregnancy apps could end up being subpoenaed as evidence against the person who helped them. Let us say you got your period, stopped your period, and then got your period again in a short time. It could be used as evidence of your own criminality, or your doctor's criminality.

Source: This ABC News Article

Another bump.  This time, it may be good news.

Period tracker app Flo developing 'anonymous mode' to quell post-Roe privacy concerns.

Period tracking app Flo has announced a new feature called "anonymous mode" that will allow users to remove their name, email address, and technical identifiers from their profile. Period trackers have faced scrutiny over privacy concerns in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Read the Full Article  HERE 

An old fashioned calendar or day planner would probably be a better idea.

Also, a Calander or day planner would be much easier to destroy than internet data if need be.

...I didn't know such things existed before I saw it mentioned on WP, but this is good advice.

Extra points if you don't write "period" or anything like that but just mark some random symbol that you've decided to mean it in your notes. That way, someone looking might find exactly what they want but not realize it.

My one aunt would cross out days on her wall calendar with a big, red marker. Probably any guest who stopped by knew the date and duration of my aunt’s monthly visitor.

"If you are not paying for the product, then you are the product" --- Somebody, Somewhere

I found those apps very useful during my decade of infertility and pregnancy loss. I hope women can continue to use these tools without fear of prosecution. I was an "idiopathic habitual aborter" (unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss). In some cases my body couldn't resolve the threat (particularly ectopics, but some "missed miscarriages") and I had medically-induced abortions. Women miss periods b/c of illness and stress, an acquaintance of mine who was raped and impregnated had a spontaneous abortion (natural miscarriage). Completely stupid if we were to be prosecuted. "We see you missed a period or were pregnant and now you are not... what happened?" Since over 25% of pregnancies end naturally in loss, authorities would be very busy.

Maybe I'm asking a stupid question, but how could this data really be used to prove anything beyond a reasonable doubt? Cycles can be "off" for so many reasons. Stress, hormonal balances, perimenopause, etc.

I mean what makes you think logic plays any role in a witch hunt? I hate to say it but the side trying to take away bodily autonomy doesn't care about logic and reason they don't nessisarily need to prove anything 'beyond a reasonable doubt' to ruin peoples lives, they just need to scream baby killer at anyone who's reproductive healthcare choices they disagree with.

Say state authorities in a state who outlaws it gets ahold of someones online cycle tracker, they could force them to explain why their period stopped...but no baby. To say they must have had an abortion, or maybe they intentionally made unhealthy choices to try to cause a miscarriage. Probably just best not to have an online period tracker as in the case of needing an abortion it could be used as evidence you had an abortion. And some states like colorado where I live have said they will not cooperate with out of state investigations for people who come here for abortions but idk if somehow state authorities in states that outlaw it could still use period tracker info plus finding travel info for them coming here for instance could still be used against them in such a case. Like just going to colorado for 'vacation' is fine, but going to colorado for vacation when your period tracker collecting data that your period has stopped could be used against them, since some states are wanting to try to persecute people they suspect of leaving their state to get an abortion.

I guess, honestly, I'm just looking for reasons not to delete mine because this all seems like madness. I have a connective tissue disorder that can flare up due to hormonal triggers and it's helpful to be able to keep track of fluctuations so I can plan ahead for rough days. Love LadyCycle for this purpose.

I recall another user on here who grew up in communist China talking about the government keeping data on people's menstrual cycles and myself and several other people having trouble wrapping our heads around that one. Yet, a few months later ... here we are.

Get one of those wooden block calendars where each number is on a moveable cube.
Leave it on the date for the whole month.

I think I'm joking but maybe I'm not.

I'm so glad to be past all these trackers.
They didn't exist for my generation.
The only time I tracked anything was a basal temperature graph when I wanted to conceive.
It was pen and paper, like connect-the-dots.
I still have it.

I don't think that's representative.

It is madness for sure but it also get's worse...some of the medications prescribed for a medicine induced abortion are also used for other conditions. Some states are trying to ban the abortion pills...which also means people who need those same pills for other conditions will also be turned down in many cases, it is already happening in some states. Biden did sign an executive order meant to protect pill abortions but doesn't mean all the pharmacists in red states will actually fill said prescriptions.

Idk probably best to keep a tracker journal or mark your cycle on a paper calander rather than having that info online. I either mentioned in this thread or another at least you can burn it or put it through a paper shredder if needed but it is harder to destroy online data.

Hope not. If I recall, she is a bit older than you, possibly your parent's generation. Maybe she meant it was part of a study or something during that time, rather than something widely done. I have no idea.