Maya Period, Fertility, Ovulation, & Pregnancy

Ostrzeżenie: *Prywatność dla tego produktu do nabycia osobno

Maya Period, Fertility, Ovulation, & Pregnancy

Plackal Tech
Wi-Fi

Data recenzji: 9 sierpnia 2022

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Według Mozilli:

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Według użytkowników: Ogromnie przerażające

Nope. That's the first word that comes to mind after researching this period and fertility tracking app made by India-based Plackal Tech. There is not a privacy or security ding we didn't assign to this period and fertilizing tracking app that says it makes tracking periods fun and easy. Free to download, Maya has some premium features users have to pay that cost around $4 a year. Maya tracks all sorts of things like sexual activity, period frequency, weight, body temperature, period symptoms, mood, and more. Unfortunately, Maya has a spotty track record of protecting all this very personal data it collects on their users. 2019 research by Privacy International found they shared lots of this personal, health information with Facebook. Yuck. That's the second word that comes to mind now when we think of this app.

Co się może stać, jeśli coś pójdzie nie tak?

Things your privacy researchers really don't like about Maya's period and fertility tracking app. One, they bury their privacy policy in their Terms of Service doc, making it really hard for an average person to find. Boo! Two, consent to use your personal information for the all the purposes they want seems to comes when you visit the platform and/or provide your information. Users might not realize they've given consent simply by doing those things. And there there is this gem mentioned in their privacy policy that raises eyebrows when it comes to consent, "You acknowledge and agree that even if You are not a registered User with Us, We may collect information about You, if a registered User has provided Us with Your information to facilitate services." Yuck!

Three, while they do say they won't share personal information about identifiable individuals to advertisers, they do say they do say they can share aggregate and/or anonymised information "to help advertisers reach the kind of audience they want to target" And they make use information the collect on you "to comply with our advertisers’ wishes by displaying their advertisement to that target audience." Maya goes on to say they can share users' information with sponsors, and/or business partners to send "newsletters, offers, information about new services, and other information." So, your information is potentially being shared with a fair amount of third parties and advertisers to reach you with more offers and even targeted ads. That's not so great.

Four, we also ding Maya because they don't mention any data retention details in their privacy policy. They do say users can delete their information from the app though, so if you use this app, maybe sure you reach out them and ask them to delete all your personal information. We're not sure they would do so otherwise.

All this is bad, but it's not the worst. The worst is yet to come!

Maya doesn't meet our Minimum Security Standards for a couple of reasons. First, they allow the super duper weak password of "1" to login to their app. Very bad form. And two, because we just couldn't tell if they do things like use strong encryption and have a way to manage security vulnerabilities.

But really, the worst thing Maya has done when it comes to protecting and respecting their user's privacy is when Privacy International discovered in 2019 that they were sharing some VERY personal information of their users with Facebook. BuzzFeed News reported Privacy International found Maya shared user data such as when a user last had sex, their use of contraception, the timing of their periods, their moods, and what symptoms they had such as cramping and swelling. Ick! Uhg! Bad! The report also found some data was being shared with Facebook even before a user had the change to agree to the app's privacy policy. When called out about sharing all this data, Maya responded by pointing out they it doesn't share any personally identifiable data with Facebook. Yeah, no. This is data that should never be shared with Facebook, ever. It also seems like data that wouldn't be super hard to re-identify.

Given all these knocks against Maya — they collect a metric ton of very personal information, they share that information with lots of places, they don't tell users how long they can retain that information, they only require a very weak password of "1" and don't meet our Minimum Security Standards, and they have a pretty bad track record of protecting their user's personal information, we'd say there is a whole lot that could go wrong if you use this app to track your periods and fertilizing. We have to say, Maya almost certainly comes with *Privacy Not Included.

Wskazówki, jak się chronić

  • Add an App lock for your calendar if someone else might be using your phone/other device
  • When you no longer use the app, go to "Delete account" in the app menu
  • Chose a strong password! You may use a password control tool like 1Password, KeePass etc. The app will not prompt you to use a strong password.
  • Do not give access to your location in the app! When asked to provide location in the sign-up, first click 'Enable' and then chose 'Do not give location' in the drop down. Yes, very misleading!
  • Use your device privacy controls to limit access to your personal information via app (do not give access to your camera, microphone, images and videos)
  • Keep your app regularly updated
  • Limit ad tracking via your device (eg on iPhone go to Privacy -> Advertising -> Limit ad tracking) and biggest ad networks (for Google, go to Google account and turn off ad personalization)
  • mobile

Czy może mnie podsłuchiwać? informacje

Aparat

Urządzenie: Nie dotyczy

Aplikacja: Tak

Mikrofon

Urządzenie: Nie dotyczy

Aplikacja: Nie

Śledzi położenie

Urządzenie: Nie dotyczy

Aplikacja: Tak

Czego można użyć do rejestracji?

Jakie dane zbiera ta firma?

Jak ta firma wykorzystuje te dane?

We ding this product for sharing some data for targeted advertising (although not personally identifiable), for sharing your personal information "with their sponsors, and/or business partners" and for unclear purposes ("may be analysed in different manners")

"We may share Your information with our sponsors, and/or business partners. Your Information could be shared so that you may receive newsletters, offers, information about new services, and other information, if applicable. The information collected from You and other users may be analysed in different manners."

"We do not disclose personal information about identifiable individuals to advertisers, but We may provide them with aggregate and/or anonymised information about our Users to help advertisers reach the kind of audience they want to target. We may make use of the information We have collected from You to enable Us to comply with our advertisers’ wishes by displaying their advertisement to that target audience."

"By visiting our Platforms and/or by providing Your information, You consent to the collection and use of the information You disclose on our Platforms in accordance with this Privacy Policy, including but not limited to, your consent for sharing your information as per this Privacy Policy. You acknowledge and agree that even if You are not a registered User with Us, We may collect information about You, if a registered User has provided Us with Your information to facilitate services."

How the company says they may share data with law enforcement:

"We share Your information with payment service providers and regulatory authorities in the event of any request from such authorities."

"We may disclose Your personal information if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such disclosure is reasonably necessary to respond to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process. We may disclose personal information to law enforcement offices, third party rights owners, or others in the good faith belief that such disclosure is reasonably necessary to enforce our Terms or Privacy Policy; respond to claims that an advertisement, posting or other content violates the rights of a third party; or protect the rights, property or personal safety of our Users or the general public."

Jak możesz kontrolować swoje dane?

We ding this product as it is unclear what the retention details are for data if a user never asks the company to delete their data, but simply stopped using the app.

"If You choose to unsubscribe from the Application or delete any or all of your information, you may send an email to [email protected]. Please note, We may still retain some information and record of transactions as required by any law, contract or policy applicable to Us."

A user can delete their account in the app.

Jaka jest znana historia tej firmy w zakresie ochrony danych użytkowników?

Wymaga poprawy

In 2019, UK-based advocacy group Privacy International discovered period-tracking apps including Maya sent women’s use of contraception, the timings of their monthly periods, symptoms like swelling and cramps, and more, directly to Facebook.

Before users could even agree to the apps’ privacy policies, Maya started sharing some data as soon they were opened, according to Privacy International.

Informacje o prywatności dziecka

No children privacy information found in the Privacy Policy

Czy ten produkt może być używany bez połączenia z siecią?

Tak

Przyjazne dla użytkownika informacje o prywatności?

Nie

Privacy policy is buried in their terms of use document and hard to find on their website.

Odnośniki do informacji o prywatności

Czy ten produkt spełnia nasze minimalne standardy bezpieczeństwa? informacje

Nie

Szyfrowanie

Nie można ustalić

Silne hasło

Nie

Managed to sign up with "1" as a password

Aktualizacje zabezpieczeń

Tak

Zajmuje się problemami z bezpieczeństwem

Nie można ustalić

Zasady ochrony prywatności

Tak

Czy produkt wykorzystuje sztuczną inteligencję? informacje

Nie można ustalić

Czy tej sztucznej inteligencji nie można ufać?

Nie można ustalić

Jakie decyzje sztuczna inteligencja podejmuje o Tobie lub za Ciebie?

Czy firma jest przejrzysta w kwestii działania sztucznej inteligencji?

Nie można ustalić

Czy użytkownik ma kontrolę nad funkcjami sztucznej inteligencji?

Nie można ustalić

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