Health News

B.C. court certifies period tracker app privacy class-action suit | Globalnews.ca

[ad_1]

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge says a class-action lawsuit can move forward over alleged privacy breaches against a company that made an app to track users’ menstrual and fertility cycles.

The ruling published online Friday says the action against Flo Health Inc. alleges the company shared users’ highly personal health information with third-parties, including Facebook, Google and other companies.


Click to play video: 'Apple to pay up to $14.4M in iPhone throttling settlement'

Apple to pay up to $14.4M in iPhone throttling settlement


The ruling says the company’s Flo Health & Period Tracker app is available in more than 100 countries with millions of users around the world, assisting women by tracking “all phases of their reproductive cycle.”

Story continues below advertisement

The decision that certifies the class-action says it would cover more than one million users, who added personal information about their menstrual cycles, and other data including their bodily functions and when and how often they had sexual intercourse.


The latest health and medical news
emailed to you every Sunday.

The proposed action covers more than a million Canadians who used the app between June 2016 and February 2019, excluding those in Quebec, where a separate class-action lawsuit was already certified in November 2022.


Click to play video: 'TD Bank customers eligible for payout in $15.9M class-action settlement'

TD Bank customers eligible for payout in $15.9M class-action settlement


The lawsuit alleges that Flo Health misused users’ personal information “for its own financial gain,” claiming breach of privacy, breach of confidence and “intrusion upon seclusion.”

The lawsuit was spurred by a U.S. Federal Trade Commission decision where Flo Health admitted it had sent users’ private information about their periods and pregnancies to data analytics divisions of Google, Facebook and two other firms.

Story continues below advertisement

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Lauren Blake agreed to certify the class-action and appoint a representative plaintiff, saying “the ever-increasing modern capacity to capture, store and retrieve information in our digital age has led to a corresponding need for the legal capacity to protect privacy. ”

“Privacy legislation has been recognized as being accorded quasi-constitutional status. In a similar manner, privacy torts — such as intrusion upon seclusion and breach of confidence — continue to evolve, and their proper scope in our modern world must continue to be addressed by our courts,” Blake’s ruling says.

 

&copy 2024 The Canadian Press



[ad_2]

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button