The following keynote speakers confirmed their participation.

Ruba Abu-Salma Ruba Abu-Salma

🇬🇧 King's College London

Title: Privacy, Reproductive Health, and FemHealth Apps: Insights from App Audits and User Interviews

Abstract: Mobile applications that support women’s health (FemHealth apps) have grown rapidly alongside the increasing de-stigmatization of female reproductive health and wellbeing. While these technologies offer important benefits for managing menstrual, sexual, and reproductive health, their widespread adoption has also accelerated practices of intimate surveillance and the commodification of highly sensitive personal data. The overturning of Roe v. Wade has further intensified concerns about the privacy and safety implications of FemHealth apps, particularly regarding the collection, sharing, and potential misuse of reproductive health data.
In this talk, I will present findings from our recent investigation of the privacy practices of 20 popular FemHealth apps (ACM CHI 2024). Combining a thematic analysis of app privacy policies and Google Play Data Safety sections with a privacy-focused usability inspection, we identified several problematic practices, including inconsistencies between privacy disclosures and app functionality, inadequate consent and data deletion mechanisms, and the covert collection of sensitive user information.
I will also present findings from 14 in-depth semi-structured interviews with current and former FemHealth app users, conducted to explore their privacy experiences, concerns, and expectations (PoPETs 2026). Our findings reveal that participants were concerned about a broader range of privacy risks than previously reported in FemTech research. These concerns included the potential criminalization of abortion- or contraception-related activities, emotional harm associated with social stigma, third-party data sharing, and targeted advertising based on sensitive reproductive health information. Participants also expressed uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of existing data protection regulations and their interaction with increasingly restrictive reproductive health laws.
Drawing on evidence from both studies, I will discuss recommendations for improving privacy practices in FemHealth apps and argue for stronger technical, regulatory, and policy-based protections for sexual and reproductive health data.

Felix Bieker Felix Bieker

🇩🇪 FIZ Karlsruhe - Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructure

Christian Bormann Christian Bormann

🇩🇪 SPRIND - Bundesagentur für Sprunginnovationen

Pierre Dewitte Pierre Dewitte

🇧🇪 European Data Protection Supervisor

Joanna Mazur Joanna Mazur

🇵🇱 University of Warsaw

Elena Pagnin Elena Pagnin

🇸🇪 Chalmers University

Yixin Zou Yixin Zou

🇩🇪 Max Plan Institute for Security and Privacy