The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has investigated the transfer of personal data to third parties by the popular fertility tracking app Premom. Since 2018, the company has shared intimate details about users’ health with Google, AppsFlyer and other advertisers, including Chinese Jiguang and Umeng, TechCrunch writes.
User data was not anonymized. The app’s developer, Easy Healthcare, also shared geolocation and advertising unique user identifiers with third parties.
The Federal Trade Commission considered that this provides an opportunity to learn about pregnancy and fertility for a particular person.
Easy Healthcare only stopped sharing this data in 2020, when the company was notified by the Google Play Store that sharing Umeng data was against app store policy.
As part of the settlement, the company will pay a $100,000 fine. Another $100,000 in total will go to the states of Connecticut and Oregon, as well as the District of Columbia, which assisted the FTC in the investigation.
Easy Healthcare will also stop sharing data with advertisers and will require third parties to remove this information. In addition, the company was ordered to implement new security and privacy programs.
Author:
karina pardaeva
Source: RB
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