News

Mental health & prayer apps prey on users; Mozilla calls them “exceptionally creepy”

While one would hope apps you share your most intimate thoughts with would respect user privacy, Mozilla’s survey of 32 popular mental health and prayer apps found exactly the opposite. In fact, 28 earned a spot Mozilla’s “Privacy Not Included” guide. These apps track, share and capitalize on users’ most intimate thoughts, harvest vast amounts of data, have dismal security, and then sell mass quantities of data to Facebook and other 3rd-party platforms. In fact, according to one of the study’s co-authors, companies are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in these apps to find out who has depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts or other mental health issues.

More News

Next Article

IT’S THE LAW (05/10/2022)

May 10, 2022

The privacy implications and risks to individuals, should the US Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade abortion rights protection (as a document leaked this week indicates), could be huge according to legal experts – particularly since there’s no national privacy law. Not only would it put women looking to get abortions and clinicians performing abortions on the wrong side of the law, but it opens up a rat’s nest of opportunity for legal as well as backdoor data sharing and tracking of information on people and services. It would also... Read More >

CDPI Privacy Newsletter
Previous Article

CCPA lawsuits up 60% since 2020

May 10, 2022

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which went into effect in 2020, is proving popular with consumers from in- and out-of-state who are exercising rights granted by the law for private right of action. In 2021, there were 145 CCPA cases, a 60% jump from the 91 filed the first year, according to a second year report by the Akin Gump Group. The new report also calls out information on how CCPA harmonizes with pre-existing US health laws, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Health Information... Read More >

CDPI Privacy Newsletter
Featured Article

Google Again Delays Third-Party Cookie Deprecation

April 25, 2024

Procrastinators of the world can throw a party whenever they get around to it: Google has once more pushed back complete third-party cookie deprecation.  The new target is “early next year.” Reasons for the delay include concerns expressed by U.K. data regulator Information Commissioner’s Office, an ongoing inquiry by the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority, and widespread discontent in the advertising ecosystem.

CDPI Newsletter