Talk Space- Their Security & Terms and Conditions

by Olta Hoxha

January 31, 2015

After seeing advertisements all over the City (NYC) about "affordable, confidential and anonymous therapy at the touch of a button" my curiosity spiked and off I went to check the business out. As a scientist, a counselor, and a consumer myself, I am highly skeptic of mental health care being provided over the net. Thus, I decided to try this Talk Space service out for myself while also doing some research on their compliance with current laws, technology and security, and just basic comparisons of the validity and consistency of their advertisement.

It became quite obvious that Talk Space has some serious security issues. Their chats are encrypted, but the initial question that consumers pose on the Talk Space home page to begin using the service is not. Therefore anyone - Internet service providers (ISP) or anyone with a packet sniffer (tool used to diagnose network-related problems or spying on network and collecting information), can read that question. It remains a mystery as to why Talk Space fails to follow such simple regulation.

The most surprising finding however, is that Talk Space specifically state in their Terms and Conditions that they are not providing therapy or counseling. Whoa! Wait a minute.So as a consumer, when I am reading the advertised statement “Your professional licensed therapist is waiting to chat with you right now, and help you make a real difference in your life” I shouldn’t think I will be provided with therapy?

This is extremely misleading in that they provide a seemingly private mean of speaking with licensed mental health counselors, which appears to be equivalent to therapy in the consumers' eyes.

I think that any mental health service professional using this medium to conduct therapy is setting themselves and potentially the field for causing harm not good. Mental health providers and individuals seeking mental health services need to carefully examine what they’re signing up for.

#talkspace #security #mislead #privacy #concerns