Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Apps Have Been Sharing Sensitive Health Data With Facebook Unbeknownst To Their Users
The Wall Street Journal: You Give Apps Sensitive Personal Information. Then They Tell Facebook.
Millions of smartphone users confess their most intimate secrets to apps, including when they want to work on their belly fat or the price of the house they checked out last weekend. Other apps know users’ body weight, blood pressure, menstrual cycles or pregnancy status. Unbeknown to most people, in many cases that data is being shared with someone else: Facebook Inc. The social-media giant collects intensely personal information from many popular smartphone apps just seconds after users enter it, even if the user has no connection to Facebook, according to testing done by The Wall Street Journal. The apps often send the data without any prominent or specific disclosure, the testing showed. (Schechner and Secada, 2/22)
The Associated Press: Report: Apps Give Facebook Sensitive Health And Other Data
Several phone apps are sending sensitive user data, including health information, to Facebook without users' consent, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. An analytics tool called "App Events" allows app developers to record user activity and report it back to Facebook, even if the user isn't on Facebook, according to the report. One example detailed by the Journal shows how a woman would track her period and ovulation using an app from Flo Health. After she enters when she last had her period, Facebook software in the app would send along data, such as whether the user may be ovulating. (2/22)
The Wall Street Journal: Popular Apps Cease Sharing Data With Facebook
Since Friday, at least four of the apps that the Journal had identified and contacted as part of its reporting issued updates to cut off transmission of sensitive data to Facebook, a new round of testing showed Sunday. The apps that made the change include Flo Health Inc.’s Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker and Azumio Inc.’s Instant Heart Rate: HR Monitor, the tests showed. Another popular food- and exercise-logging app, Lose It!, from FitNow Inc., also stopped sending Facebook information, Sunday’s test showed. In a test on Thursday, the app had been sending Facebook the weight users logged, along with how much they had gained or lost and the caloric content of every food item they logged. (Schechner, 2/24)
Reuters: NY Governor Orders Probe Into Facebook Access To Data From Other Apps
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Friday ordered two state agencies to investigate a media report that Facebook Inc may be accessing far more personal information than previously known from smartphone users, including health and other sensitive data. The directive to New York's Department of State and Department of Financial Services (DFS) came after the Wall Street Journal said testing showed that Facebook collected personal information from other apps on users' smartphones within seconds of them entering it. (2/22)
In other health and technology news —
The New York Times: Pinterest Restricts Vaccine Search Results To Curb Spread Of Misinformation
Pinterest, a digital platform popular with parents, took an unusual step to crack down on the proliferation of anti-vaccination propaganda: It purposefully hobbled its search box. Type “vaccine” into its search bar and nothing pops up. “Vaccination” or “anti-vax”? Also nothing. Pinterest, which allows people to save pictures on virtual pinboards, is often used to find recipes for picky toddlers, baby shower décor or fashion trends, but it has also become a platform for anti-vaccination activists who spread misinformation on social media. (Caron, 2/23)
