this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2023
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With the stories about data from period tracking apps being shared with law enforcement, I was wondering if there was a self hosted alternative I could host for my daughter. My searches so far have not returned any good results. Thanks!

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[–] [email protected] 65 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I wrote a period app for my partner, everything is encrypted and never leaves the device.

It has a option where you can set false passwords, so that if you are being compelled to unlock it, it will get up fake data.

Code is open source: https://github.com/cameroncros/PrivatePeriodTracker

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cross.privateperiodtracker

It may not meet your needs, but perhaps worth a look. I am open to adding features (except for ads and tracking obviously).

(I have posted this before, but with an inappropriate account)

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

This is the lord's work made real right here. Thanking you so much from Texas.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Texas is exactly why I wrote it. I wish my app was a waste of time and no one ever needs it :(

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

That duress feature is neat!!

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Got nothing to suggest but just wanted to call out that you're an awesome ~~dad~~ parent.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

🤦‍♂️ Yep. Updated comment.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Thanks. I’m trying.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Sorry, I'm just a dude with no periods that buries my head in the sand a bit to much. The government is doing fucking WHAT with your period information? How is this any of their business? Why would they want to know this information?

[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Using it to determine if you get pregnant and then suddenly aren't. So they can charge you for getting an abortion.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (3 children)

That is fucking insane, considering there are a million reasons why someone might not have a period (stress, could just be an irregular person, or literally no reason at all. Humans are not all the same). Or they could simply forget to input data into their calendar one time. Or they could simply decide that they don't want to use the app any more, then change their mind a few months later. This data would be circumstantial evidence at best, and if anyone is being convicted of a crime based on this data, I am extremely suspicious of the court system in that country/state.

And that's BEFORE we even talk about how it's a huge invasion of privacy.

And which governments are doing this?

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The third world government of Texas for one. Whether they target my kid or not, better safe than sorry.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ah, based on the original wording, I thought this was something that was already happening. As you said, absolutely better to be safe than sorry. Do everything you can to avoid being put in a situation where you need to figure out if this will hold up in court. I want to believe it wont, but who tf knows with how this world is these days.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

A US state has already subpoenaed Facebook for Messenger texts to prove an abortion case. It's not speculative.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I read about that case, but if I am understanding that correctly, in those messages someone admitted to having an abortion. Having evidence of something happening and not having evidence of something not happening (e.g. a gap in period tracking data) are pretty different in the courtroom. I was specifically asking about subpoenaing period tracking data, citing a gap in the data as evidence of anything. If that held up in court, I would lose any remaining faith that I had in whatever government this happened under, because from a purely logical point of view, lack of data is not evidence of anything.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Police prefer that criminal cases are resolved by compelling a confession. If a woman is told by the police they have her period data, most people would crack in that situation. Whether it holds up in court is mostly irrelevant.

It should go without saying, but never talk to police and if you're being interviewed, insist on invoking your 6th amendment right to an attorney and your 5th amendment right to remain silent. And don't engage with anything the police say.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

There is considerable concern this will happen in the US post-Roe.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Circumstantial evidence can still be enough evidence to start an investigation, in pursuit of more solid evidence.

Normally this would be a reasonable course of action in proving someone guilty of a crime. However, here the law is completely unreasonable, and the process is being exploited.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

Men trying to control women's bodies. Tale as old as time sadly.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Menstrual cycle trackers

  • Drip - Menstrual cycle and fertility tracking. Everything you enter stays on your device.
  • log28 - a (very) simple no-frills period tracker for Android.
[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

They are both on f-droid btw

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Started using Drip a few months back, seems interesting as it bases next period time on the last ones.

Log28 just takes what you enter as period length to show when the next one starts.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago

Use the one built into iPhones and either encrypt iCloud so Apple cannot read it ( but no way to recover if you forget password) or turn off iCloud sync for health data (you will lose history with new phone).

Or, print out a one page annual calendar and use a pencil.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Drip seems wonderful. Thanks for posting.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

A woman. I'm interested too... It's really tiring keeping track of it on an analog Calendar.

If you can't find anything, I suggest you make her a barebones one or get her to use something like etar. It's all local.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Just so you see it, on android at least I can recommend drip which is open source and also keeps your data local. It's available on fdroid: https://f-droid.org/de/packages/com.drip/

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Drip is a good option. Funded by Mozilla and German Govt

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Look into Periodical as well, it's on fdroid and completely local. It also shows when the next period should be and works better than some closed source apps.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

I'd probably just spin up a calendar such as one on Nextcloud but also change the name of the event to another plausible name such as:

Pay day.
Grandma coming to town.
Grandma leaving town.
Walk the cat.
Pick up groceries.
Collect mail.
Drop off mail.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

As someone who uses Nextcloud, why do you suggest obfuscating the name of the calendar event? My nextcloud instance is only accessible from outside my LAN via HTTPS, so no concern about someone using a packet sniffer on public WiFi or something of that sort. The server is located on my property, so physical security isn't a real concern unless someone breaks in with a USB drive or physically removes the server from the rack and steals it. If someone was to gain access to my network remotely, they'd still need login credentials for Nextcloud or for Proxmox in order to clone the VM drive.

To be clear, I'm not disagreeing with you; I'm wondering if I may be over-estimating data security on my home network. Considering you're posting from infosec.pub, I'm assuming you know more about this than I do.

Also, I feel like I need to say that the fact that OP even needs to consider data security for something like really makes me wonder how parts of our society have gone so wrong.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If your concern for wanting to self host is that you're concerned your government might attempt to access that data, then you should also assume they could get a warrant for that data and force you to decrypt it if it were encrypted at rest on a machine in your home.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

That's a very valid point, and certainly a reason to obfuscate the calendar event. I would argue that in general, if the concern is the government forcing you to decrypt the data, there's really no good solution. If they have a warrant, they will get the encrypted data; the only barrier is how willing you are to refuse to give the encryption key. I think some jurisdictions prevent this on 5th amendment grounds, but I'm not not a lawyer.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Right, this is exactly what I was saying. Plausible deniability because you know you're not going to be able to fight to protect the data when they come knocking.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

The police can confiscate your servers. Considering some states are treating abortion as murder, I don't think it's unrealistic to say the police could raid your home and confiscate your devices just on suspicion.

The only thing safe against that is an encrypted device locked with a password, no biometrics like fingerprints or face ID. As far as I know, you can refuse to give a password under the 5th amendment, but you can't refuse to unlock a device with a fingerprint reader or face ID.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Drip is one of the better options if you want to just download something from your app store of choice. It’s FOSS, requires minimal permissions, and seems to store all data locally.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I'm looking for a good option too. Hopefully someone chimes in with something!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I've heard log28 is a good simple app with a local database and without tracking. I haven't looked at it too closely to verify much. But seems like it hasn't had an update for a while.

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