Good2Go, The Modern Way to Get Sexual Consent
Either the world is getting crazier every day, or I'm just getting too old. Remember when you would actually have to ask a girl whether she wanted to go home with you? Nowadays, you use your smartphone for that too. Good2Go is a recently launched sexual consent app which aims to prevent sexual assault among teenagers.
The app works by providing a questionnaire which your partner has to answer. The first question is "Are We Good2Go?" and the three available answers are "No, thanks", "Yes, but ... we need to talk", or "I'm Good2Go". If the other person is consenting, there will be a follow-up question concerning the partner's sobriety level which can be answered with "sober", "intoxicated but Good2go", or "pretty wasted". In case the answer indicates a high level of alcohol consumption, the consent will automatically be revoked as the app will consider that you are in no shape to make a decision.
While the goal of stopping sexual assaults from happening is a worthy cause, the execution has a lot of problems. Firstly, when you're getting it on with someone, things tend to happen pretty fast, and one of the last things you think about is your phone and taking time to go through an app's questionnaire. Furthermore, if you have been drinking so much that your consent isn't even semi-lucid, how are you supposed to have the presence of mind to operate the application in the first place?
Lastly, the biggest issue with this app is that it stores the real names, phone numbers, consent records and alcohol levels of both partners in a database. Sandton Technologies, the company which developed Good2Go is a new kid on then block and the privacy policy which you consent to is pretty lax, so trusting them can be complicated. Basically, you are going on record and creating a log which contains your real name, phone number and the times you had sex at, but you have no control over the respective database. The record can be hacked (though the Amazon servers are pretty secure), it can be sold to other companies, given to marketers or subpoenaed by the police, so there is a chance that the app could cause some embarrassing situations.
In my opinion, the only way this app could actually be useful is in case you got drunk and are in dire need of a way to remember what you did the night before.
