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| Grindr founder and CEO Joel Simkhai attends an event at Milk Studios in Hollywood, California, in October 2015 |
Gay dating
app Grindr was under fire on Monday for sharing information about users' HIV
status or locations with two companies enlisted to optimize its software.
Grindr
chief technology officer Scott Chen said in a Tumblr post that sharing data
with partners such as Apptimize and Localytics was "industry
practice" and that steps were taken to protect people's privacy.
"As a
company that serves the LGBTQ community, we understand the sensitivities around
HIV status disclosure," Chen said.
"Our
goal is and always has been to support the health and safety of our users
worldwide."
Grindr
users have the option of sharing their HIV status and when they were most
recently tested.
Researchers
worried that including the health information with other data such as location
and email address could result in people being identified.
Online
rights champion Electric Frontier Foundation called Grindr's response
"disappointing."
The Los
Angeles-based company said that it uses Apptimize and Localytics to test and
validate its platform, and that data it shares with them could include users'
HIV status or location fields.
Sensitive
data are encrypted when sent, and vendors are under strict contractual terms to
keep it secure and confidential, according to Chen.
Norwegian
nonprofit research group SINTEF uncovered the data sharing, and concern spread
in the US after Buzzfeed reported the findings.
"Grindr
has never, nor will we ever sell personally identifiable user information –-
especially information regarding HIV status or last test date -– to third
parties or advertisers," Chen said.
He noted
though that Grindr is a public platform, and that should be kept in mind when
deciding what to put in profiles.
The AIDS
Healthcare Foundation (AHF) called Grindr's data sharing "an egregious
breach of confidentiality laws," demanding it "immediately cease and
desist the reckless practice."
"It is
extremely unfortunate that those men who have been courageous enough to share
their HIV status, be it positive or negative, on their Grindr profiles, may
have now had that most personal data indiscriminately shared by Grindr,"
said Michael Weinstein, the AHF president.
"We
laud those Grindr members for their courage and challenge Grindr to quickly get
its act together to restore the confidentiality all members deserve."
News
website Axios reported that Grindr's security chief said the company has stopped
sharing users' HIV status with its third-party vendors.
"You
guys should just close up now," read one of the few comments in an online
chat forum under the Grindr post at Tumblr.
"No
one cares about your efforts or industry standards. You betrayed the LGBT
community in more than just the one way."
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