Google says it will delete location history of users at abortion clinics, along with other ‘personal’ data

Google announced the change a week after the Supreme Court overturned it Roe vs. Wade, allowing states to ban abortion. More than a dozen states are on the verge of banning the procedure, and those bans may include criminal penalties for abortion providers or patients.

Following the court’s decision, many social media users immediately called on people to delete period-tracking apps or take other medical privacy precautions on their phones – though those actions may not be enough. , according to information from the New York Times.

Google will also remove data entries from users who visit counseling centers, fertility centers, addiction treatment centers, weight loss clinics and plastic surgery clinics, Fitzpatrick wrote. Location history is disabled by default and can be deleted at any time, she added.

Big tech companies have come under increased scrutiny for collecting user data in recent years and for their influence in politics.

Before the court ruling was officially released, a digital surveillance expert told POLITICO he was concerned about the surveillance of personal health decisions in a post-deer world.

« We’re going to see all the tools that are developed as a way to optimize our healthcare now being repurposed into some sort of ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ style tracking device, » Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of Oversignt Monitoring Technology Project, said at the time.