SAN FRANCISCO: Google introduced Friday it will delete customers’ location historical past once they go to abortion clinics, home violence shelters and different locations the place privateness is sought.
“If our programs establish that somebody has visited one among these locations, we are going to delete these entries from Location Historical past quickly after they go to,” Jen Fitzpatrick, a senior vice chairman at Google, wrote in a weblog publish. “This alteration will take impact within the coming weeks.”
Different locations from which Google is not going to retailer location information embrace fertility facilities, habit remedy amenities, and weight reduction clinics.
The announcement comes every week after the US Supreme Courtroom made the tectonic resolution to strip American ladies of constitutional rights to abortion, main a dozen states to ban or severely prohibit the process and prompting mass protests throughout the nation.
Activists and politicians have been calling on Google and different tech giants to restrict the quantity of data they gather to keep away from it being utilized by regulation enforcement for abortion investigations and prosecutions.
Fitzpatrick additionally sought to reassure customers that the corporate takes information privateness critically.
“Google has a protracted observe document of pushing again on overly broad calls for from regulation enforcement, together with objecting to some calls for solely,” she wrote.
“We take note of the privateness and safety expectations of individuals utilizing our merchandise, and we notify individuals after we adjust to authorities calls for.”
Considerations over smartphone information and reproductive rights arose even earlier than the Supreme Courtroom ruling, when a number of conservative US states in latest months handed legal guidelines that give members of the general public the precise to sue docs who carry out abortions — or anybody who helps facilitate them.
That led a bunch of prime Democratic lawmakers in Might to ship a letter to Google chief government Sundar Pichai, asking him to cease gathering smartphone location information lest it grow to be “a device for far-right extremists seeking to crack down on individuals searching for reproductive well being care.”
“If our programs establish that somebody has visited one among these locations, we are going to delete these entries from Location Historical past quickly after they go to,” Jen Fitzpatrick, a senior vice chairman at Google, wrote in a weblog publish. “This alteration will take impact within the coming weeks.”
Different locations from which Google is not going to retailer location information embrace fertility facilities, habit remedy amenities, and weight reduction clinics.
The announcement comes every week after the US Supreme Courtroom made the tectonic resolution to strip American ladies of constitutional rights to abortion, main a dozen states to ban or severely prohibit the process and prompting mass protests throughout the nation.
Activists and politicians have been calling on Google and different tech giants to restrict the quantity of data they gather to keep away from it being utilized by regulation enforcement for abortion investigations and prosecutions.
Fitzpatrick additionally sought to reassure customers that the corporate takes information privateness critically.
“Google has a protracted observe document of pushing again on overly broad calls for from regulation enforcement, together with objecting to some calls for solely,” she wrote.
“We take note of the privateness and safety expectations of individuals utilizing our merchandise, and we notify individuals after we adjust to authorities calls for.”
Considerations over smartphone information and reproductive rights arose even earlier than the Supreme Courtroom ruling, when a number of conservative US states in latest months handed legal guidelines that give members of the general public the precise to sue docs who carry out abortions — or anybody who helps facilitate them.
That led a bunch of prime Democratic lawmakers in Might to ship a letter to Google chief government Sundar Pichai, asking him to cease gathering smartphone location information lest it grow to be “a device for far-right extremists seeking to crack down on individuals searching for reproductive well being care.”
