AUTHOR=Mehrnezhad Maryam , Van Der Merwe Thyla , Catt Michael TITLE=Mind the FemTech gap: regulation failings and exploitative systems JOURNAL=Frontiers in the Internet of Things VOLUME=3 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/the-internet-of-things/articles/10.3389/friot.2024.1296599 DOI=10.3389/friot.2024.1296599 ISSN=2813-3110 ABSTRACT=

The security, privacy, and safety issues around Female-oriented technologies (FemTech) and data can lead to differential harms. These complex risks and harms are enabled by many factors including inadequate regulations, the non-compliant practices of the industry, and the lack of research and guidelines for cyber-secure, privacy-preserving, and safe products. In this paper, we review the existing regulations related to FemTech in the United Kingdom, EU, and Switzerland and identify the gaps. We run experiments on a range of FemTech devices and apps and identify several exploitative practices. We advocate for the policymakers to explicitly acknowledge and accommodate the risks of these technologies in the relevant regulations.