Senators ask Apple and Google to ban data collection targeting people seeking abortions

A group of US senators led by Ed Markey of Massachusetts is calling on Apple and Google to implement new app store policies that ban developers from collecting data that could threaten women seeking abortions. . In separate letters to the CEOs of both companies, the group said the two tech giants “must” act to protect individuals exercising the right to choose from groups that would target them in decision-making. .

“Following the leak of the Supreme Court’s draft opinion, overturned Roe v. Wadewe are concerned that anti-abortion prosecutors and other organizations will attempt to access and leverage personal information – including location, online activity, health and biometric data – in ways that threaten the welfare of those who exercise their right of choice,” the letter addressed Statuses.

Pointing to the prevalence of online platforms that sell user information to data brokers, the group warned that abortion prosecutors and “even vigilantes” could take advantage of these scams. such activity to intimidate women who seek abortions or to harass them later.

Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont also signed the letters. Letters followed by a from Democrats in Congress came out earlier this week calling on Google to stop collecting location data because of many of the same concerns. The idea that various groups, including law enforcement agencies, can weaponize application data is not an conceivable threat. One from the Georgetown Law Center for Technology and Privacy found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has developed a mass surveillance system that includes information on virtually all residents of the United States, and it has It does that in part by buying data from private companies. The senators asked Pichai and Tim Cook to respond to the letters by June 17.