Mental health apps are very popular with users. However, many of them represent a danger for private data, according to a Mozilla study which analyzed about thirty of them. Applications dedicated to the practice of religion are also affected by this problem.
The business of mental health apps hides a dark side, according to Mozilla researchers. Indeed, many of them drag serious privacy concerns, if not outright deliberate flaws. Inconvenient for such intimate applications.
In its latest report, Mozilla warns of a good number of software available on iOS and Android. Out of thirty-two applications analyzed among the most downloaded, only three are really secure. The others employ unscrupulous practices. Ouch.
Mozilla warns about data security of apps focused on mental health.
Twenty-nine received the unenviable “Privacy Not Included” label. The reproaches made to these apps are numerous: they track the user, collect private data and put forward rather vague confidentiality policies.
Many of them do not encourage the user to protect their own data, letting them create very simple passwords. Worse still, some, like Woebot, even go up to assuming sharing the data with third-party companies for commercial purposes. Does the user really want data of this type to be monetized? Not so sure. For its part, Talkspace records all private conversations within its app.
Mental health apps are not the only ones in this case, since some whose theme is religion also feature fuzzy operation. Here again, we are touching on the realm of the intimate, which is extremely problematic.
It should be noted that these applications are exclusively English-speaking and primarily concern the American market, but be careful all the same. If you are looking for software of this type, it is strongly discouraged to download those listed by Mozilla. Three good students are put forward, let us point it out. These are Wysa, Headspace and PTSD Coach, a US government application.
Source : Mozilla
