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California AG enters into privacy settlement with fertility-tracking mobile app

Privacy/Cyber Risk & Data Security Courts Settlement Data Breach State Issues State Attorney General

Privacy, Cyber Risk & Data Security

On September 17, the California attorney general announced a settlement with a technology company that operates a fertility-tracking mobile app to resolve claims that security flaws put users’ sensitive personal and medical information at risk in violation of state consumer protection and privacy laws. According to the complaint filed in the Superior Court for the County of San Francisco, the company’s app allegedly failed to adequately safeguard and preserve the confidentiality of medical information by, among other things, (i) allowing access to user information without the user’s consent, by failing to “authenticate the legitimacy of the user to whom the medical information was shared”; (ii) allowing a password-change vulnerability to permit unauthorized access and disclosure of information stored in the app without the user’s consent; (iii) making misleading statements concerning implemented security measures and the app’s ability to protect consumers’ sensitive personal and medical information from unauthorized disclosure; and (iv) failing to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices.

Under the terms of the settlement, the company—which does not admit liability—is required to pay a $250,000 civil penalty and incorporate privacy and security design principles into its mobile apps. The company must also obtain affirmative authorization from users before sharing or disclosing sensitive personal and medical information, and must allow users to revoke previously granted consent. Additionally, the company is required to provide ongoing annual employee training concerning the proper handling and protection of sensitive personal and medical information, in addition to training on cyberstalking awareness and prevention. According to the AG’s press release, the settlement also includes “a first-ever injunctive term that requires [the company] to consider how privacy or security lapses may uniquely impact women.”