Turns out, the majority of mental health and prayer apps are pretty creepy—tracking, sharing, and capitalizing on their users’ most intimate personal thoughts and feelings. 

*internally screaming while reading [insert popular therapy app]’s privacy policy*

Per The Verge, a new analysis from researchers at Mozilla shows that as a category, mental health and prayer apps have some of the worse privacy protections, despite collecting large amounts of sensitive personal data tied to your mood, mental state, and biometric data.

• After analyzing 32 apps, the Mozilla team found that 29 were given a “privacy not included” warning label, raising concerns about user data management. 
   
• Most apps also had poor security practices, letting users create accounts with weak passwords, despite containing personal information. 

According to Mozilla, the worst apps for privacy are Better Help, Youper, Woebot, Better Stop Suicide, Pray.com, and Talkspace. AI chatbot Woebot, for instance, collects user information from third parties and Therapy provider Talkspace collects session transcripts.

• The report found that Headspace (30 million users globally) does collect, and can share, personal data, although seemingly not as much as some of the other apps.

Why it matters: Self-reported levels of anxiety and depression in Canada peaked at 27% and 17%, respectively, last summer, but in-person, traditional mental health care can be hard to find. Tech can fill the gaps, but increased access may come with a steep privacy tradeoff.

(IP)O, Canada: Dream Residential Real Estate will close Canada’s first IPO of over $150 million this year. In 2021, a record 17 deals passed that threshold before, you know, today’s inflation and interest rates.

Turn off tracking: The precise movements of millions of people using the gay dating app Grindr were collected and made available for sale from at least 2017 until 2020, per The Wall Street Journal.

Brick by brick: Toymaker Lego is tripling its number of software engineers in a digital push that will include developing a metaverse for kids (a realm where you can’t experience the pain of stepping on a Lego brick). 

Tropi-can-you-not: Tropicana is introducing a new cereal just in time for National Orange Juice Day (May 4) that they want you to mix with OJ, instead of milk. We live in an age of miracles and wonders. 

What’s in your wallet: The EU has ruled that Apple abused its dominant position in the mobile wallet space and called out the company for preventing third-party wallet app developers from running on iOS.

Canadian conglomerate Thompson Reuters is launching an independent assessment into the use of products and services, spurred by criticism over the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s use of the company’s software.

• In addition to the Reuters News Agency, the company boasts three divisions across legal, accounting, and government that offer a broad set of services, including for Canada’s Justice Department and Public Prosecution Services. 

Activist groups have criticized the company’s CLEAR investigation software ever since learning its capabilities to analyze cellphone records, license plates, and other publicly available information may have been used by ICE to track, arrest, and deport undocumented migrants.

• British Columbia General Employees’ Union (a minority shareholder) has pressed the company to address how its software was used by ICE since 2020, as the government agency came under fire for its family separation and detention practices. 

Why it matters: Reuters’ contracts with ICE to use CLEAR ended this past December, but the company says it has no intentions to stop working with ICE in other capacities or with other agencies who pay to use CLEAR’s database, per The Washington Post. 

The assessment results may impact how companies get to use CLEAR in the future to ensure that Thompson Reuters aligns with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). 

🚙 54. Percentage of Canadians who said they have cut down on how much they are driving because of higher gas prices, per a new survey for BNN Bloomberg—the percentage of people who have given up entirely and bought a bike instead is unknown.

💰 $410 billion. Amount (in USD) that Bloomberg estimates central banks in G7 countries will shrink their balance sheets (total assets and liabilities) by in the remainder of 2022, a move that will raise borrowing costs and dry up liquidity, which in turn should combat inflation. 

🖥 0.08. Percentage of donations to The Wikimedia Foundation (the folks behind Wikipedia) received last year in crypto, however, they will no longer accept crypto donations, citing environmental concerns and scam risks. 

• Take a tour inside this (definitely haunted) abandoned NYC mansion on the market for $22 million.
   
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• This “Jeopardy!” contestant displayed a unique skill in his Q&A that needs to be heard to be believed.
   
• Police officers in southwestern Ontario found a drone carrying 11 guns stuck in a tree near the US border—a creative, albeit not effective, arms smuggling idea.
   
• Long read: The bizarre afterlife of Club Penguin.