In the wake of Roe's demise, data privacy is more crucial than ever.
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| Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images |
After Roe v. Wade was overturned last month, IT companies are forced to pick up the pieces on an abruptly uncertain legal landscape.
One such business is Google, which revealed in a blog post on Friday that the location history feature connected to Google accounts will receive an update in the upcoming weeks. Any visits to abortion clinics (as well as other locations like domestic abuse shelters and addiction treatment centers) will be automatically flagged and removed from a user's location history after the upgrade.
This is significant because, in a post-Roe world, access to legal abortions varies between states. However, there is already legislation being drafted in red states that would penalize people who travel for abortions if it were passed into law. Although U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has stated unequivocally that the Department of Justice will protect the right to seek an abortion outside of one's home state,
A digital journal of every location a person has visited would obviously be sought as evidence if law enforcement had the right to penalize those who obtain abortions outside of their home states, which is why Google automatically deletes trips to abortion clinics from its logs. A Fitbit update would also enable users to delete numerous menstrual cycle logs at once, as there have been concerns that information gathered by period tracking apps could be used against women who need abortions.
Regarding the use of data as evidence, Google stated that it would "oppose demands that are excessively broad or otherwise legally unacceptable," but that declaration leaves a lot of space for interpretation. As always, getting rid of the evidence completely is the best way to prevent it from being used against you.
Also Read: Republicans are reassured by TikTok that it is striving to ensure US data security.
