Connected bodies, vulnerable data: reproductive datafication and limits of regulation

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the risks arising from reproductive datafication through the Flo Health app, taking as its empirical objects FTC File No. 192-3133 and the class action Frasco v. Flo Health. It examines how the circulation of reproductive data between digital applications and third-party companies challenges existing data protection mechanisms and how the resulting risks are unevenly distributed within the Brazilian context. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative approach based on documentary analysis of the two U.S. cases, Brazil’s General Data Protection Law (LGPD), documents issued by the Brazilian National Data Protection Authority (ANPD), and data concerning criminal prosecution and racial inequalities in Brazil. The analysis brings the concepts of surveillance capitalism and biopower into dialogue with studies on the racialization of technology. It concludes that, although regulatory mechanisms are necessary, they neither prevent the circulation and subsequent uses of reproductive information nor adequately address the unequal distribution of the associated risks. A model of protection centered on an abstract conception of the data subject and on individual mechanisms of informational self-determination proves insufficient to address structural vulnerabilities shaped by gender, race, and class.