Period Tracker Stardust Shared Health Data With Analytics Firm
Stardust, a period tracking application, shared sensitive user health information with analytics company RudderStack, according to research by Mozilla. The data reportedly included birthdates and reproductive details.
Period tracking app Stardust has been sharing sensitive health data of its users with an analytics firm, new research from Mozilla has found. The app was reportedly sending data to a third-party company called RudderStack, which collects and analyzes information.
The data shared is said to have included users' birthdates, information about their birth control methods, reproductive goals, and specific symptoms they were experiencing. While names were not directly shared, the information was tied to a unique identifier that could allow for user identification.
Mozilla Foundation's research examined the privacy practices of several period tracking applications. The study found that Stardust was among the apps that failed to meet strict privacy standards, while other applications proved to be significantly more trustworthy.
This discovery raises concerns about how personal health data is handled in mobile applications and how information is shared with external parties without explicit consent. Stardust advertises its app with the claim: 'Your data is private. Period.' The latest research calls the reliability of this statement into question.