Reproductive health data on the Narrative data collaboration platform
by Nick Jordan, on May 17, 2022
In light of potential forthcoming changes to policies surrounding women’s reproductive rights, Narrative has updated our policy to remove menstruation and pregnancy tracking app install data from the Narrative Data Streams Marketplace in order to prevent the potential misuse of such data.
App install data purchased from third parties via the Marketplace includes pseudoanonymized identifiers of mobile devices that have that specific app installed on their phone. The data does not provide information about any actions taken within or usage of the app.
Narrative’s terms and conditions expressly prohibit the use of any data acquired via Narrative for “conducting or providing surveillance, or gathering similar intelligence on any individual or entity, including but not limited to investigating or tracking data subjects or any other data sources.” Additionally, many reproductive health-related apps have their own privacy and protection measures in place to prohibit the commercial use of in-app data.
While data itself is neither good nor bad, we acknowledge that there are opportunities for data to be used for . We regret that we did not .
Many users aren't even aware that their app download data is being recorded and shared. We've put together an instructional video to demonstrate how to protect your data from being shared with third parties on Android:
