Google says it will begin automatically removing visits to abortion clinics, domestic violence shelters, weight loss clinics and other potentially sensitive locations from users’ location histories in the coming weeks. In a blog post on Friday, the company says the removal will take place “shortly after” the visit, once its systems have identified that a trip was made to one of the locations. This change is taking place as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision to revoke Roe v. Wade and the moves several states have made immediately to ban abortions.
You can also completely disable Google Location Logging by following its instructions here.
Google’s post, “Protecting People’s Privacy on Health Issues,” also mentions that there is an update for Fitbit that will allow you to delete multiple menstrual records at once if you’ve been using the health tracking feature. .
These privacy updates are intended to remove selected data from Google’s servers that could be used to process people for attention, but the company still stores a lot of other data about your business. Search and YouTube histories could also be used as evidence in research, and Google’s post doesn’t mention anything. We have contacted Google to inquire about any further action you may take to protect user data.
While Google legally has to comply with certain government data demands (and could be forced to hand over records if any), the company reiterates that it will “continue to oppose demands that are too broad or legally reprehensible.” Google also says it will notify users when it gives its data to the government, unless instructed not to do so or there is an urgent security concern.
Concerns about the privacy of abortion data go beyond Google: Official medical records are not as private as many of us assume, and everything from texting and purchase records can be used against you. in the courts. In addition, the company is not necessarily the only entity that controls where your smartphone has been. For more information, you can read our article that delves into the privacy risks that people seeking care may face.