Reproductive apps lack clear law enforcement policies, study finds
Most apps devoted to reproductive health have done little to prepare for what to do if law enforcement comes looking for user information, a new survey has
Most apps devoted to reproductive health have done little to prepare for what to do if law enforcement comes looking for user information, a new survey has found.
The survey, conducted by the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation, which also owns the Firefox browser and advocates for a healthy internet, found that only one of 25 apps that track users’ periods, their pregnancies or their fitness have clearly written policies that explain the specific scenarios in which they’d turn over user data.
While the types of data such apps hold typically haven’t been used in abortion prosecutions, privacy experts say such companies should have clear policies before law enforcement asks for the data.
Pregnancy data has become a hot-button issue in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which had made abortion access a federally protected right.
One of the apps Mozilla surveyed, Ovia, a general reproductive health service, boasts a comprehensive privacy policy that details how it would respond if law enforcement gets a warrant for user data.
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