Google announced Friday that it will delete users’ location history when they visit abortion clinics, domestic violence shelters and other places where privacy is demanded.
“If our systems detect that someone has visited one of these locations, we will remove these entries from the location history immediately upon their departure,” said Jane Fitzpatrick, senior vice president Google, wrote in a blog post. “This change will take effect in the coming weeks.”
Other places from which Google will not store location data include fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities, and weight loss clinics.
The announcement comes a week after the US Supreme Court’s tectonic decision to strip American women of their constitutional rights to abortion has led to a dozen states banning or severely restricting the procedure and widespread nationwide But protested.
Activists and politicians have been calling on Google and other tech giants to limit the amount of information they collect to avoid being used by law enforcement to investigate and prosecute abortion.
Fitzpatrick also sought to reassure users that the company takes data privacy seriously.
“Google has a long track record of pushing back overly broad demands from law enforcement, including outright objection to some demands,” she wrote.
“We take into account the privacy and security expectations of the people using our products, and we notify people when we comply with government demands.”
Concerns over smartphone data and reproductive rights arose even before a Supreme Court decision, when in recent months several conservative US states passed laws that give members of the public the right to sue doctors who perform abortions – or any which helps to facilitate them.
This prompted a group of top Democratic lawmakers in May to send a letter to Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai asking them to stop collecting smartphone location data, lest it be “for far-right extremists”. become a tool for those who want to crack down on those seeking reproductive health care.”
Ever since the SC’s decision has come, many Announcements By social media platforms to remove data related to abortion. Abortion will now or soon be illegal in more than a dozen states and severely banned in many more, with big tech companies that blank out their users’ personal details to limit that tracking and surveillance. Looking forward to a new call. One fear is that law enforcement or vigilantes against people looking for ways to terminate unwanted pregnancies could use those data troves.
History has shown time and again that whenever people’s personal data is tracked and stored, there is always a risk that it could be misused or misused. Wade in the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized abortion, collected location data, text messages, search history, email and the use of seemingly spontaneous periods and ovulation-tracking apps to cause abortions. It can be done to prosecute people seeking — or seeking medical abortion — care as well as those who assist them.