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Are our bosses spying on our period and fitness info to track health and pregnancy 'risks'?

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Do you know what certain companies use the info you track on your health and period app for?
Do you know what certain companies use the info you track on your health and period app for?

According to and article previously published in The Guardian, some of the apps we find so helpful because they help us track our menstrual period, ovulation cycle and all those other things, is being used by our employers to collect personal information that could be used against us in future.

While these FemTech apps are sometimes heaven sent, and help us keep track of essential information about our bodies, they don't always have positive consequences.

The Washington Post reports of one instance where an app called Ovia Health was used by a gaming company, Activision Blizzard, that allegedly encouraged employees to use the app to keep track of female employees' menstrual cycles, whether or not they were trying to get pregnant and who had high risk pregnancies.

But how exactly how are they getting the information?

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The Guardian reports that the information is bought by the company from the app developers. They also reported that Activision Blizzard had been keeping surveillance on its employees since 2014, starting out with the FitBit watch.

Apparently the company paid employees to use the watch so that they could track their personal information such as weight, how fit a person was and what health risks the person was suffering with.

In a statement directed at public disapproval of the surveillance of it's employees personal lives, Milt Ezzard, the Activision Blizzard global MP said that they were not forcing any of their employees to use these apps, and if they did choose to use them, were being rewarded for it.

"Each time we introduced something, there was a bit of an outcry: 'You're prying into our lives,'" Milt said. "But we slowly increased the sensitivity of stuff, and eventually people understood it's all voluntary, there's no gun to your head, and we're going to reward you if you choose to do it" he said.

READ MORE: Your period tracking app may be giving out all your private info - and making money from it

According to Game Industry Biz, the app shares an variety of information with the company such as, when you have sex, sleeping schedule, diet, mood and even the appearance of your cervical fluid.

This brings us to the question of why a company would want to have that information? Well according to Milt, they want to ensure women have healthy babies.

"I want them to have a healthy baby because it's great for our business experience, rather than having a baby who's in the neonatal ICU, where she's not able to focus much on work," he said in his statement.

While having a safe pregnancy and healthy baby would result in a mom being more productive at work, post pregnancy, one can't help but cringe at the thought of sharing so much of your personal information with your employer, who for many women tends to be a man.

Not only that, but it's no secret that pregnant women are often treated unfairly in the workplace.

READ MORE: PSA: You can now track your periods using your fitbit

Having to share that information also means being open to judgement for your personal choices and decisions, for example, finding out you're pregnant and choosing to abort.

While this is only one company that has been revealed to be getting info from a FemTech app, who knows how many other companies are doing the same but are hiding it well?

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