Legal

Gay dating app Manhunt says that it was hacked in February of this year, and the personal data of a portion of its users was exposed. 

A hacker caused the data breach according to a statement submitted by the company to the Washington State Attorney General. Manhunt maintains that the hacker “downloaded the usernames, email addresses and passwords for a subset of our users in early February 2021,” according to The Advocate. 

Manhunt has over 6 million users, and about 7,700 of its users who reside in Washington had their data stolen according to the statement. In total, the company’s attorney says about 11 percent of Manhunt users were affected by the breach.

Apple announced in early April that it will soon be rolling out its new privacy notification for users who download any app from its store. The company didn’t give a specific launch date but said that it would happen “in the coming weeks” according to Reuters. 

Apple has created a one-time notice that requires an app developer to ask for the user’s consent before the app is able to track personal data and share it with third parties, according to Reuters. CEO Tim Cook described the notification in a podcast with tech journalist Kara Swisher, saying it will appear as a short checklist of how the app will use data, to make it easier and more transparent than sifting through the standard pages-long privacy policies that most people do not read. 

Digital advertisers and app developers are worried that the notification would cause many more users to decline permissions. 

Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona just signed into law a bill that requires online dating companies to inform their users when they have communicated with potential scammers, according to a report from Fox 10 News.

The bill HB2396 was sponsored by Republican lawmaker Regina Cobb of Kingman, Arizona, and requires dating services to inform its members if someone they had been in contact with was banned for a suspected scam, in an effort to reduce abusive and criminal activity on dating apps. These companies were previously prohibited from doing so.

The law requires the notice to be sent my mail or email, and according to Fox News 10 in Phoenix, it also provides immunity for dating app companies to prevent them from being sued.

Garbo is a non-profit provider of Background Checks

Tinder announced that it will offer background checks on potential dates, a new measure that parent company Match Group has taken to improve safety for users of the app. Currently no dating app conducts criminal background checks on users, so this is a huge step forward for safety advocates.

Match Group has partnered with Garbo, a non-profit that provides background checks, and plans to debut an in-app background check feature on Tinder later this year according to The Washington Post. There are no details yet on the cost of the service.

Tracey Breeden, Match’s new head of safety and social advocacy, said in an interview: “This gives [Tinder users] an opportunity and that comfort level. Maybe they want more information before they have a video chat, maybe they want more information before they meet in person.”

Image: FTC

The Federal Trade Commission found that more online dating scams happened in 2020 than ever before, thanks to people flocking to dating apps in the wake of the pandemic. 

The FTC released a new report in February citing the disturbing news, noting that dating app scams are the most lucrative for criminals because they provide an easy way to access and manipulate targets. Scammers are able to create an emotional connection with their victims when they target them on dating apps, and are better able to keep extracting money. The total amount of stolen funds on dating apps in 2020 was estimated to be $304 million, or about $2,500 per victim. This was double the amount stolen from dating app users in 2019, according to Insider.

Utah House Committee

The Judiciary Committee in the Utah House of Representatives just passed a bill that would allow people to search the legal records of anyone they meet online, providing new safety measures for online daters.

The bill would allow Utah residents to have easier access to a service called Xchange, which provides information from Utah’s public court system, according to The Daily Universe, the paper published by Brigham Young University. Right now, broad access is limited, but if the bill is passed, residents can opt to pay a monthly fee to use it and get relevant history and information on potential dates.