Grindr Passing HIV status and Contact Info to 3rd Parties

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fountainhall

Grindr Passing HIV status and Contact Info to 3rd Parties

Post by fountainhall »

The news that Grindr has shared information about Users' HIV status, last testing date, email, GPS data and phone ID has created a twitter storm of protest. Turns out this information has been passed on/sold to two companies, Apptimize and Localytics.

Grindr has strongly defended its actions. HIV status and testing dates are widely available on Profile pages should members choose to post it. So that is anything but confidential information on a public platform. Analysts, though, point out that putting all the data together can precisely identify the locality of individual users and their HIV status.

As is so often the case, the small print - and on Grindr there is a ton of it - makes clear that Grindr has a lot of leeway when it comes to using information that its members post publicly on the site. I have tried to fight my way through it, but had to give up as I just do not understand some of it.

Generally, though, if I put information on to a public site like Grindr, I have no issue if that information is passed to others. That said, nowhere on my profile page is my email accessible to anyone other than to me and the people at Grindr. If that is passed on, I'd be mildly pissed off, although it wouldn't concern me too much as it is a special email only for joining apps.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/02/gay-dat ... anies.html
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Re: Grindr Passing HIV status and Contact Info to 3rd Parties

Post by Gaybutton »

In my opinion, true privacy is a thing of the past. I've seen articles showing that even web cams can be hacked and others who know how to do it can see whatever your web cam sees without you even being aware of it.

The bottom line is the loss of privacy has become far more extreme than even George Orwell predicted. If a person wants to retain as much privacy as is still possible to do, then he can't be involved with the internet at all. The internet probably knows more about you than you know yourself - and there's little, if anything, you can do about it.

Regarding Grindr and HIV status, whether information about an individual is shown or not, Grindr only knows what the individual chose to disclose. What Grindr doesn't know is whether the individual told the truth or might have contracted HIV at some point after his last test. The best way to avoid ending up with HIV from a sex partner is to act as if no matter who you have sex with, he has HIV - and protect yourself accordingly.

Remember, HIV is not the only STD. Every so often I still see morons on the gay hookup apps saying they want bareback. If that is not virtually begging for some form of STD, what is?
Jun

Re: Grindr Passing HIV status and Contact Info to 3rd Parties

Post by Jun »

fountainhall wrote:That said, nowhere on my profile page is my email accessible to anyone other than to me and the people at Grindr. If that is passed on, I'd be mildly pissed off, although it wouldn't concern me too much as it is a special email only for joining apps.
I do something similar.
In total, I have 4 active e-mail addresses & I usually have 2 mobile phone numbers as well, although the second SIM rarely makes it into a phone. It's fine for when a website demands a phone number & I don't really want to give it out.

As for STDs, well yes, I think it's safer to take precautions, irrespective of what the profile says.
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Re: Grindr Passing HIV status and Contact Info to 3rd Parties

Post by Captain Kirk »

It's become clear by now that filling out any profile stuff on social media is very naive. Lying appears to be the best policy.
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