THIS IS NO OVARY-ACTION: FEMTECH APPS NEED STRONGERREGULATIONS TO PROTECT DATA AND ADVANCE PUBLIC HEALTH GOALS

NC-JOLT-Vol-23.3_636-668_Scatterday

Millions of people download and use “femtech,” or female technology, applications to track patterns in their reproductive health, including menstruation and fertility. The market for femtech apps is projected to experience rapid growth over the next decade. Despite the highly sensitive, intimate nature of data collected by femtech apps, U.S. privacy law leaves these apps largely unregulated. Recent investigations reveal that femtech app developers have misled users about their privacy policies, left user accounts vulnerable to security threats, and sold user data to advertisers and other third parties without notice or consent. Femtech app users urgently need legal solutions that strengthen privacy protections; however, along with maintaining data privacy, proposed actions should also address ways to use data collected by femtech apps to fill critical gaps in women’s health research.

Author: Allysan Scatterday

PDF: http://ncjolt.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2022/04/NC-JOLT-Vol-23.3_636-668_Scatterday.pdf

Volume 23, Issue 3