Report: Grindr Sharing HIV Statuses of Users with Third Parties

breitbart ^ | CHARLIE NASH

[davikkm]

Popular gay dating app Grindr is reportedly sharing the HIV statuses of its users with third parties. According to a report from BuzzFeed News, Grindr “has been providing its users’ HIV status to two other companies,” Apptimize and Localytics, which “help optimize apps.”

“Because the HIV information is sent together with users’ GPS data, phone ID, and email, it could identify specific users and their HIV status,” BuzzFeed News explained, adding that the company was also “sharing its users’ precise GPS position, ‘tribe’ (meaning what gay subculture they identify with), sexuality, relationship status, ethnicity, and phone ID to other third-party advertising companies.”

The information, excluding HIV statuses, was being transferred via “plain text” format, which BuzzFeed News noted can be “easily hacked.”

“The HIV status is linked to all the other information. That’s the main issue,” declared SINTEF researcher Antoine Pultier, whose company first identified the concern. “I think this is the incompetence of some developers that just send everything, including HIV status.”

In response to the news, AIDS advocacy group ACT UP New York’s James Krellenstein called Grindr’s data sharing “an extremely, extremely egregious breach of basic standards.”

[RedMonqey]

Gay or not, I'd be mad if my medical info was released without my permission.

[Calvin Locke]

It was in a collection of his columns. “Right Reason” I believe, was the name of the book.

[DiogenesLamp]

Thanks. Good to know.