“Overly broad” government requests for customer data will no longer be tolerated by the corporation, it says.
What you should be aware of
- Google has declared that users’ location histories will be erased if they visit an abortion clinic.
- The auto-delete protocol will also apply to visits to other sensitive health establishments.
- This week, Google will begin rolling out the new privacy measures.
To protect the privacy of individuals who seek to terminate pregnancies, Google is removing abortion clinic visits from location history. Soon, the procedure will go into effect.
An abortion privilege that had previously been granted to women by the federal government was overturned last week by the Supreme Court of the United States. In jurisdictions where abortion is prohibited, this has sparked concern that prosecutors could use the location data held by tech companies to track down women seeking abortions.
Abortion clinic location data will be removed by default by Google, according to a blog post(opens in new tab). A similar argument can be made for visits to mental health facilities, such as a domestic abuse shelter or fertility clinic.
The location history of a user is disabled by default. If you prefer, you can clear your location history manually. Using Google’s activity controls, you can also set a time limit for when your location data will be deleted from your location history.
Clearly, Google’s latest action addresses growing worries that location data could be used to track people visiting abortion facilities in numerous places where abortion is illegal. Numerous members of Congress have called for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate Google’s and Apple’s mobile targeting tactics, believing that this may lead to a similar result for consumers.
According to Jen Fitzpatrick of Google, the business doesn’t always comply with government requests for data.
According to Fitzpatrick, “We are dedicated to defending our users against improper government demands for data, and we will continue to reject demands that are unduly broad or otherwise legally unacceptable.”