Lawmakers ask Google to stop collecting location data before reversal of abortion rights
. The landmark case protected the federal rights to abortion across the country, and states with trigger laws will immediately criminalize abortion if it truly gets overturned.
"[W]e are concerned that, in a world in which abortion could be made illegal, Google's current practice of collecting and retaining extensive records of cell phone location data will allow it to become a tool for far-right extremists looking to crack down on people seeking reproductive health care," the lawmakers wrote.
In their letter, the lawmakers pointed out how a quarter of the court orders Google gets is for"geofence" data, which can show information on people near a particular location at a given time. They means it could be used to identify people who visit reproductive health clinics and other places that help people seek access to abortions.
The signees praised Google for being one of the first companies to require a warrant before disclosing user data, but they said it's not enough. They compared Google to Apple, saying the latter shows that it's"not necessary for smartphone companies to retain invasive tracking databases of their customers' locations.
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