Patient data privacy: tricky questions in the age of digital healthcare

Many people don't understand quite how their data is used, or why, and a lot of companies aren't forthcoming with this information. Menstrual tracking apps are some of the most popular on the digital health market. Through collecting intimate data about users – when their period is, when they last had sex, their mood and general health, even which sanitary products they use – the app offers an estimate for when they are the most fertile and when to expect their next period. According to a study recently carried out by Privacy International (PI), several menstrual tracking apps have been sharing user data with Facebook via the social network's software development kit (SDK). The SDK allows software developers to receive analytics on which aspects of their app are most popular with users.