The Future Is Femtech: Privacy and Data Security Issues Surrounding Femtech Applications
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The Future is Femtech: Privacy and Data Security
Issues Surrounding Femtech Applications
Celia Rosas*
I. INTRODUCTION
The year is 2264 and the bracelet on your wrist flashes a white light.
You hardly flinch. In under twenty seconds, a small capsule dispenses
from a cylinder above your desk. You grab it without giving it much
thought. In it lies a pill and a small note. When you read the note, you are
reminded of a distant childhood memory of when your second-grade class
sampled a 'Chinese fortune cookie' as part of Interplanet History Day at
your virtual school. You vividly remember your excitement upon seeing
the fortune paper inside the cookie which was quickly met with confusion
as you read, A good way to keep healthy is to eat more Chinese food.1
Food no longer exists. You are accustomed to only ingesting synthetic
tablets manufactured to specifically maintain your body's vitals and
nutrient levels. This time, your note reads ergocalciferol + ferrous
sulfate. You realize your body must be experiencing vitamin D and iron
deficiencies in response to the hormonal imbalance caused by your
monthly cycle. You ingest the pill and the white light on your bracelet
turns off.
While the above futuristic scenario seems all too implausible,
emerging technologies addressing women's health are on the rise. 2 Female
Technology, colloquially referred to as Femtech3 in the technology and
* Celia Rosas is a law student at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
She extends tremendous thanks to: Professor Jennifer Dunn for helpful comments; Alexander Bastian
and Maxwell Szabo for mentorship with policy drafting and the legislative process; and Anthony Isola
for feedback and support during the writing process.
1. Fortune Cookie Message Archive, FORTUNE COOKIE MESSAGE, http://www.fortunecookie
message.com/archive.php [perma.cc/3MFY-2T8B].
2. Berenice Magistretti, The rise of femtech: women, technology, and Trump, VENTURE BEAT
(Feb. 5, 2017, 10:03 AM), https://venturebeat.com/2017/02/05/the-rise-of-femtech-women-technology-
and-trump/ [perma.cc/LVA8-V78L].
3. The term Femtech was coined by Ida Tin, co-founder of the fertility-tracker Clue who states
on her blog, an enormous range of technology innovations such as temperature patches, insertable
devices, wristbands, clip-ons, smart jewelry, DNA testing related to fertility and many other devices
and data analytics helping people figure out their female health . . . addressing female health needs
through technology: femtech Ida Tin, The Rise of a New Category: Femtech, CLUE (Sept. 15, 2016),
https://helloclue.com/articles/culture/rise-new-category-femtech [https://perma.cc/ECC8-JY89].](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/hbuslj15&div=12&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Future Is Femtech: Privacy and Data Security Issues Surrounding Femtech Applications
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