In a move that I am sure that will draw some ire from the right, Google has announced that it will automatically delete visits to abortion clinics, domestic violence shelters, weight loss clinics, fertility centres, and other sensitive locations from its ‘Location History’ in the “coming weeks.” Fitbit users will also get an update that to allow people to delete multiple menstruation logs at once. I should also note that Google says in the blog post that it will push back on law enforcement requests to access this data, especially with “demands that are overly broad or otherwise legally objectionable.” Also, the company plans to notify users when it gives their data to the government unless it’s been ordered not to or there is another pressing security concern.
They don’t say that this is related to the U.S. Supreme Court removing reproductive rights in America, but I am sure that this was the impetus for this move. And I should point out that Google collects far more data than what is detailed in the blog post that I linked to. So I think that Google needs to do more because as I detailed here, it is a real possibility that this sort of data will be used to go after women who are seeking reproductive related services. Having said that, this is a good first step by Google. But it’s only a first step.
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This entry was posted on July 3, 2022 at 9:09 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Google. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Google To Automatically Delete Location History For Abortion Clinics, Domestic Violence Shelters And Other Sensitive Locations
In a move that I am sure that will draw some ire from the right, Google has announced that it will automatically delete visits to abortion clinics, domestic violence shelters, weight loss clinics, fertility centres, and other sensitive locations from its ‘Location History’ in the “coming weeks.” Fitbit users will also get an update that to allow people to delete multiple menstruation logs at once. I should also note that Google says in the blog post that it will push back on law enforcement requests to access this data, especially with “demands that are overly broad or otherwise legally objectionable.” Also, the company plans to notify users when it gives their data to the government unless it’s been ordered not to or there is another pressing security concern.
They don’t say that this is related to the U.S. Supreme Court removing reproductive rights in America, but I am sure that this was the impetus for this move. And I should point out that Google collects far more data than what is detailed in the blog post that I linked to. So I think that Google needs to do more because as I detailed here, it is a real possibility that this sort of data will be used to go after women who are seeking reproductive related services. Having said that, this is a good first step by Google. But it’s only a first step.
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This entry was posted on July 3, 2022 at 9:09 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Google. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.