Abortion rights have become a controversy in the United States. Besides the protests against the the Supreme Court ruling, some privacy experts are worried about the data that law enforcement agencies and bounty hunters might use to target abortion seekers. In a blog post, Google said that it tries to remove the location from users’ location history “soon after they visit,” However, the company didn’t clarify how it wanted to detect those centers and how long the process would take. Google’s removal will also target other health facilities, fertility centers, and weight loss clinics. “Some of the places people visit — including medical facilities like counseling centers, domestic violence shelters, abortion clinics, fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities, weight loss clinics, cosmetic surgery clinics, and others — can be particularly personal,” the company noted. Google continues, “Today, we’re announcing that if our systems identify that someone has visited one of these places, we will delete these entries from Location History soon after they visit.”
Google targets abortion clinics and other health facilities
As per the company announcement, a new update is also coming to Fitbit devices, allowing users to remove their menstrual tracking information all at once. Period tracking apps should also bring new privacy and security features to protect users’ data from law enforcement investigations. The requests by law enforcement to access the data from users seeking an abortion could challenge Google’s privacy practices. However, the company confirms it is committed to its current policies and notifies users when their data is requested. It also mentions its transparency reports that track such demands.
Google seemingly won’t share users’ data with law enforcement agencies
Google noted that it would “continue to oppose demands that are overly broad or otherwise legally objectionable”. Also, it has a “long track record of pushing back on overly broad demands.” How the Big Tech companies would handle the data in hand raised concerns among both users and privacy experts. Most tech companies have remained silent after the Supreme Court ruling. Google just notified its employees of their rights to relocate to states with abortion rights. The possibility of removing abortion queries from users’ search history or YouTube accounts is another question that Google needs to answer. Since this data is usually shared with third-party advertisers, law enforcement agencies can use it to identify abortion seekers.
