Every woman and menstruating person knows this - tracking your period is hard. So period tracker apps, that do the work for you and advise you on your cycle, contraception use, dealing with PMS and more, seem like a godsend.
It goes without saying that confidentiality should be paramount in sensitive medical data, but a new, damning report by UK-based advocacy group Privacy International has revealed that Bangalore-based period tracker app Maya and Cyprus-based MIA Fem have been sharing your data with Facebook.
This is especially dubious as it means that the app shared users’ personal medical, sexual and lifestyle data, everything about your fertility, period cycles, your contraception use, your PMS symptoms and history and more.
Speaking to FIT, Tripti Jain, an independent researcher and ex-counselor at Software Freedom Law Center, said,
“In India’s cultural fabric, questions about a woman’s sexual life, especially an unmarried woman’s, can have devastating effects if leaked.”