'Google has a simple choice: delete the data or become complicit in criminalizing abortion.'
Crucially, geofence data is only available after a court-issued warrant — but with more than 20 states preparing to outlaw abortion as soon asis overturned, it’s increasingly plausible that such a warrant could be used to target anyone visiting an abortion provider.
To prevent this from happening, the signatories of the letter request that Google redesign its location data collection practices so that device data is only collected at an aggregate level, rather than on an individual basis, and is not retained by the company for longer than needed.
In a statement, Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, welcomed the Congressional letter, saying that Google should delete its location data or be “complicit in criminalizing abortion.” “It’s not enough for tech firms to say they’re pro-choice, they have to stop collecting data that puts pregnant people at risk,” Cahn said. “There’s no way for Texas to station state police at every out-of-state abortion clinic, but with data from Google and other companies, they don’t need to. If tech giants don’t act soon, we’ll see pregnant people seeking abortion care out of state, only to come home to an arrest warrant.
So far, Google has not made any public response to the letter; the company did not immediately respond to questions sent by
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