Bodies Like Yours: Enquiring Data Privacy in FemTech

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Abstract
The digitalisation of the reproductive body has seen a myriad of cutting-edge technologies to prioritise neglected intimate health and care topics, such as fertility and contraception. The impact of these intimate data on livelihood and society is pervasive including that privacy is critical to safeguarding security as this increasing digitalisation also produces increasingly large datasets. In this paper, we enquire the collective nature of privacy in female-oriented technologies (FemTech) to show how this ever-extending collection of data implicates many beyond the individual. We introduce a pilot study on the data collection practices of a subset of FemTech devices with fertility tracking service. We demonstrate that data is collected about the user and others, such as their immediate relationships and user groups as a whole. We suggest that it is critical we ask who is vulnerable and discuss approaches to mitigate collective harm.
Funding Information
  • PETRAS (P/S035362/1)
  • EU Horizon 2020 (952226)