Health apps are integrated into most of our lives. With sensors and user-generated input we can track our steps, fertility cycles, manage chronic conditions, and even find affordable medication. But do you know what the privacy policy is? According to a study by AV-Test, an independent cybersecurity firm based in Magdeburg, Germany, most are not.
In most countries, it’s a legal duty to let the end-user know how any data gleaned is used. Their report found that:
“Of the 60 Android applications examined, a mere 32 offered a direct link from Google’s Play Store to a privacy policy. However, only 22 were available via the link, ten apps led the user nowhere or rather onto orphaned websites. Only 19 out of 60 apps provided a privacy policy directly related to the application evaluated. For 53 out of 60 apps, the existing privacy policy dated back to the year 2014 or even earlier – or there was no information as to when the policy was valid.”
The study also warned about the dangers of clicking “allow,” including giving apps unmitigated access to cameras, microphones, even data from other apps like Facebook.
This problem isn’t just for medical apps, subscription email management platform Unroll.me recently got some very negative press for selling user’s email data to Uber and privacy policies in general are getting a significantly amount of scrutiny lately.
Source: A-V security
