Ostrzeżenie: *Prywatność dla tego produktu do nabycia osobno
WebMD, everyone's favorite website to go to check if that headache they're having is actually cancer, also makes apps for your phone. There's the general WebMD app, which sounds like it could turn anyone into a hypochondriac, there's the WebMD Allergy app, and then there's WebMD's pregnancy app (they make a baby app too). WebMD Pregnancy is only available for iOS users (sorry Android folks) and is free to download and use. The app offers what many other pregnancy apps do — week-by-week pregnancy monitoring, baby development tracking, a symptom tracker, weight and blood pressure tracking, kick counter, belly photo album, contraction timer, doctor appointment calendar, and, of course, lots of WebMD articles to help you understand pregnancy. What does the WebMD app look like from a privacy perspective? Well, not to scare you (ha! who hasn't gone to WebMD and not gotten scared?), but it has us pretty worried.
Co się może stać, jeśli coś pójdzie nie tak?
You know the number one rule of the internet, "If something is free, then you're the product"? Yeah, we'd say that very much applies here with WebMD's pregnancy tracking app. The app is free, as is all that free health advice you can get on their website. Which is great. What is not great is that means you're being tracked and targeted based on your health questions and app usage. WebMD accepts advertising from third parties on it's own WebMD Network. That typically comes with lots of tracking of you around WebMD properties, including the WebMD pregnancy app. It also seems WebMD shares, and possibly sells, information on their users to third parties for advertising purposes. Again, WebMD's product is free, so the personal and usage data they collect on you is the business asset they get in return to monetize for lots of advertising. Is this the way the internet pretty much works these days? Unfortunately, yes. Is it rather scary when you're sharing personal information about your pregnancy and other health concerns and symptoms? Absolutely!
And WebMD does say the can collect a good deal of personal information on users. Things like name, address, telephone number, gender, email address and date of birth, precise location, health-related information such as symptoms, app and website usage data, unique device identifier, and more. They go on to say they can collect even more data about your from external, third party sources to combine with the data they already have on you to be able to target you even better with ads both on and off WebMD services. They say the data they collect this way includes "age, gender, demographic, geographic, personal interests, product purchase activity or other information." So, WebMD and their pregnancy app are likely collecting a whole bunch of data on you from lots of places. The more they know about you, the better.
WebMD says they can share your information with a pretty large group of third parties including, "subsidiaries, affiliates and companies acquired by or merged with us and our affiliates," "third party companies and contractors that help us provide the Service," and third party advertising service providers.
And how do they say they can us this data? Well, for lots and lots of targeted, interested-based advertising, of course. Also for things like personalization, to market good and services, and do research and to offer "lead generation services" (basically, helping business find new customers based on demographics they collect). Reminder, you are the product.
How does WebMD say they will handle law enforcement requests? They say in their privacy policy, "To cooperate with government authorities and law enforcement officials and private parties to enforce and comply with law, we may release personal information to third parties: (1) to comply with legal requirements such as a law, regulation, search warrant, subpoena or court order; (2) when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request; or (3) in special cases, such as in response to a physical threat to you or others..." Which isn't as clear a statement as we'd like to see here at Mozilla. We'd like to see WebMD (and all products we review) clearly state they won't disclose user data voluntarily, and that they won't give up user data to law enforcement unless required to under subpoena, and even then, we like to see them commit to only giving up the bare minimum necessary.
What's the worst that could happen if you chose to use the WebMD Pregnancy app? Well, you could get inundated with ads for everything remotely related to pregnancy and becoming a parent, spend way too much money on things you don't need, and then be broke when the baby comes. Shoot, that might not be the worst thing that could happen, but it sure does sound crappy. Here's some good advice from WebMD we actually recommend you consider, "If you do not want your personal information used by WebMD as provided in this Privacy Policy, you should not use the WebMD Sites, Apps and Services."
Wskazówki, jak się chronić
- When you no longer use the app, go to "Delete account" in the app menu
- Turn off precise location sharing!
- Chose a strong password! You may use a password control tool like 1Password, KeePass etc.
- 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)
Czy może mnie podsłuchiwać?
Aparat
Urządzenie: Nie dotyczy
Aplikacja: Nie
Mikrofon
Urządzenie: Nie dotyczy
Aplikacja: Nie
Śledzi położenie
Urządzenie: Nie dotyczy
Aplikacja: Tak
Czego można użyć do rejestracji?
Tak
Telefon
Nie
Konto firmy trzeciej
Nie
Jakie dane zbiera ta firma?
Osobiste
Only if you chose to create account: name, address, telephone number, gender, email address and date of birth
Związane z ciałem
Społecznościowe
Jak ta firma wykorzystuje te dane?
Jak możesz kontrolować swoje dane?
Jaka jest znana historia tej firmy w zakresie ochrony danych użytkowników?
WebMD faced a class action lawsuit in 2020 that claimed "the WebMD website violates California privacy law by recording their visitors."
In 2019, the Financial Times reported that health websites, including WebMD, were sharing sensitive data with advertisers
Informacje o prywatności dziecka
Czy ten produkt może być używany bez połączenia z siecią?
Przyjazne dla użytkownika informacje o prywatności?
Odnośniki do informacji o prywatności
Czy ten produkt spełnia nasze minimalne standardy bezpieczeństwa?
Szyfrowanie
Silne hasło
Aktualizacje zabezpieczeń
Zajmuje się problemami z bezpieczeństwem
Zasady ochrony prywatności
Dowiedz się więcej
-
How top health websites are sharing sensitive data with advertisersFinancial Times
-
Guess What? HIPAA Isn’t a Medical Privacy LawConsumer Reports
-
WebMD Secretly Records Visitors to Its Website, Claims Class Action LawsuitTop Class Actions
-
Of course big tech is tracking your WebMD visitsMashable
-
Best Pregnancy Apps for 2022Forbes Health
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