Agencies-Gaza post
Google to delete users’ location history data for abortion clinics visits
Google reported Friday that it plans to delete background history data “soon after” users visit medical installations, including abortion hospitals.
The news said that the tech company published a blog post also surrounding how it will also take user data on apps, following the June 24 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
“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,” Jen Fitzpatrick, SVP of Core Systems at Google, wrote in the post. “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.”
The statement also assured that the change will take impact in the coming weeks and noted that users who have yet enabled area history have the ability to have some or all aspects of their data auto-deleted. The post additionally addresses concerns raised around tech companies’ supply of health, fertility, and menstruation data.
“For Google Fit and Fitbit, we give users settings and tools to easily access and control their personal data, including the option to change and delete personal information, at any time,” the Alphabet Inc. subsidiary’s post read.
Reproductive health, abortion, and privacy experts and supporters registered in the week after Roe’s overturning that data from certain reproductive health search apps could be used to surveil, identify and help arrest women in circumstances where abortions have become illegal. Dr. Gina Neff, director of the Minderoo Center for Technology and Democracy at the University of Cambridge, tweeted to “Delete those fertility apps now,” and in an interview with The New York Times, said the apps included “powerful information about reproductive choices that’s now a threat.”
Meaning specifically to duration tracking, the post states that Fitbit users “who have chosen to track their menstrual cycles in the app” can delete menstruation logs one at a time. The statement also ensured that Google intends to release updates that allow users to “delete multiple logs at once.”
“Google Play has strict protocols to protect user privacy — including policies that prohibit developers from selling personal and sensitive user data and a requirement that they handle that data securely and only for purposes directly related to operating the app,” Fitzpatrick’s blog post said.
The Friday report doesn’t directly confirm whether Google would refuse to comply with requests from U.S. law enforcement, courts, or prosecutors for users’ health information. Some period tracking apps like Clue, which is based in Europe, have already released reports confirming that they will not as no “U.S. Court or other authority can override” European privacy law and “cannot simply” subpoena data from the U.S. “since we are not established in the U.S.”)
It does show users the previous “additional steps” it’s taking to defend user privacy about health issues and notes that the company has “long advocated for a comprehensive and national U.S. privacy law that ensures protections for everyone.”
“We understand that people depend on Google to keep their personal data secure. We’ve long been committed to this work,” the post said.
