Google will delete user location history for abortion clinic visits

[WellPreserved]

"Google said Friday that it would delete its users’ location history whenever they visit an abortion clinic, domestic violence shelter or other similarly-sensitive place, responding publicly for the first time to calls for the data giant to limit the amount of information it collects that could be used by law enforcement for abortion investigations and prosecutions.

“If our systems identify that someone has visited one of these places, we will delete these entries from Location History soon after they visit,” Jen Fitzpatrick, a senior Google executive, said in a blog post.

The blog post also reiterates Google’s position that it pushes back against what is sees as overly broad or illegal government requests for data, but does not specifically say how the company will respond to abortion-related requests. Google already lets its users turn off location-tracking completely.

Google and other Big Tech companies have been under pressure over the last week to make clear how they will respond to such requests. Google already responds to hundreds of search warrants every day in the United States, handing over its customers’ emails, location data and documents stored in the cloud. As law enforcement agencies become more tech-savvy, they’ve increasingly used the vast troves of data collected by Big Tech to bolster investigations and prosecutions."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technolo ... -abortion/