Congressman Chad Pergram reveals who the GOP believes is solely responsible for the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling.
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, Cory Booker and Sara Jacobs are asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Apple and Google for failing to warn consumers about the potential harms associated with advertising-specific tracking identifiers on their mobile operating systems. .
“These identifiers have fueled the unregulated market for data intermediaries by creating a single device-linked information that data intermediaries and their customers can use to link to other consumer data,” lawmakers wrote in a letter Friday. . “This data is purchased or acquired from application developers and online advertisers, and may include consumer movements and web browsing activity.”
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While consumers may choose not to track, they argue that Apple and Google have “allowed governments and private actors to exploit advertising tracking systems for their own surveillance and have exposed hundreds of millions of Americans.” to serious damage to privacy “.
“The FTC should investigate the role of Apple and Google in transforming online advertising into an intense surveillance system that encourages and facilitates the unrestricted collection and constant sale of personal data from Americans,” he continues. the letter. “These companies have not informed consumers of the privacy and security dangers posed by the use of these products. It is beyond time to put an end to the privacy harms these companies impose on consumers.”
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The letter places particular emphasis on the potential vulnerability of people seeking abortions and other reproductive health services following Friday’s Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v.
“Data brokers are already selling, licensing and sharing location information from people visiting abortion providers to anyone with a credit card,” lawmakers say. “Prosecutors in states where abortion becomes illegal will soon be able to obtain orders to obtain information on the location of anyone who has visited an abortion provider. State rewards laws will also encourage private actors to hunt down women who have abortions. have obtained or are seeking an abortion to access location information through shady data intermediaries. “
A Google spokesman told FOX Business that the company “never sells user data” and that Google Play strictly prohibits the sale of user data by developers.
“The ad identifier was created to give users more control and give developers a more private way to effectively monetize their apps,” the tech giant added. “Any claim that the ad identifier has been created to facilitate the sale of data is simply false.”
In addition to the ability to delete the ad ID at any time, Google has launched the Privacy Sandbox on Android to limit the exchange of data with third parties. An Apple spokesman did not immediately return FOX Business’s request for comment.
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The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based digital privacy rights group, advises Internet users who are concerned about their abortion-related data to carefully review the privacy settings of the services they use, turn off location services to applications that do not need them. and use encrypted messaging services.
“Everyone deserves to have strong controls over the collection and use of the information they necessarily leave behind as they perform their normal activities, such as using apps, search engine queries, posting to social media, texting. to friends, etc. “, the executive director of EFF. Cindy Cohn and legal director Corynne McSherry said in a statement. “But those seeking, offering, or facilitating access to abortion must now assume that any data they provide online or offline could be sought by law enforcement.”
It also suggests that companies should protect users by allowing anonymous access, stopping behavior tracking, strengthening data removal policies, providing end-to-end encryption, and traffic, avoiding location tracking, and ensuring that users receive alerts when searching for their data.
In addition, the organization calls on state and federal policymakers to pass significant privacy legislation.
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At least 13 states in the country have called it “triggering laws” prohibiting most abortions that will take effect immediately or within weeks of the cancellation of Roe v.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion research group, these states are Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. , which have just passed their trigger. law in April.
There are also five additional states (Alabama, Arizona, Michigan, West Virginia, and Wisconsin) that still have an abortion ban in books prior to Roe v. Wade which will come into force now that the 1973 historic law has been repealed.
Fox News’ Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report