Search history may be required by law. Photo: Shutterstock
Following the annulment of the constitutional right to abortion in the United States, technology companies such as Google, Apple and Facebook may be forced to provide private information about their users. In particular, search histories related to pregnancy problems and other related data.
The Reuters news agency warns in an article that, based on the decision to let each state have its own policy, the police will have the right to request this information from the “Great technology”.
On Friday, the conservative-majority United States Supreme Court overturned the historic Roe vs. Wade, which enshrines the constitutional right to abortion in the country since 1973. The controversial vote was 6 to 3 and has already sparked a heated debate in the country.
The concern reflects how the data-gathering practices of companies like Alphabet Inc’s Google, Meta Platforms Inc (META.O), and Facebook’s parent company Amazon.com have the potential to indict people seeking state law. They allow for legal abortion.
“Search history information is very likely to be requested from those technology companies, the websites visiteds, “said Cynthia Conti-Cook, a Ford Foundation technology researcher, as reconstructed by Reuters.
Protest at the headquarters of the Washington Supreme Court. AP photo
The problem is that tech companies handle a huge amount of their users’ personal information and this can impact their privacy. Indeed, it has long since been revealed confidential information relating to pregnancy on consumers.
In 2015, anti-abortionists used the platforms to advertise “Help for pregnancy” and “You have options” for people entering reproductive health clinics, using so-called geofencing technology to identify smartphones in the area.
Most recently, Mississippi prosecutors charged a mother with second-degree murder after her smartphone showed she had been looking for abortion drugs in her third trimester, according to local media.
While suspects may inadvertently hand over their phones and information voluntarily used to prosecute them, investigators can turn to tech companies in the absence of clues or concrete evidence.
In the United States v. Chatrie, for example, police obtained a warrant for Google’s location data that led them to Okello Chatrie in a 2019 bank robbery investigation.
Amazon, for example, was at least partially compliant with 75% of search warrants, subpoenas, and other court orders requesting US customer data, the company revealed for the three years ending June 2020. Fully 38% compliant.
Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said on Twitter on Friday: “The difference between now and the last time abortion was illegal in the United States is that we live in an age of digital surveillance without. previous “.
The companies offer to pay for abortion trips
Netflix is one of the companies involved in the show. Photo by Reuters
Several companies in the United States took a step forward this Friday and offered to its workers to reimburse the cost of the trip to access legal abortion in the country after the historic ruling of the Supreme Court, which revokes federal protections for this reproductive right.
Among these was JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank on Wall Street; entertainment giant Walt Disney or the technological ones Netflix and Metajoining other companies that have announced supportive policies following the escape in May of a draft signaling an imminent abortion decision.
The ruling of the High Court allows each state to decide whether to maintain or prohibit abortion, in front of which vetoes and restrictions have been automatically approved, some with the possibility of imprisonment, which will come into force today or in a few weeks. in numerous conservative states.
JPMorgan, according to an internal note obtained by CNBC, has offered its employees additional health insurance benefits to access services that require out-of-state travel and specifically for a “legal abortion”as well as rival Citigroup, the first and only large bank run by a woman.
Walt Disney, also in a communication to his staff leaked by the media, acknowledged the impact of the measure and said he was “committed” to providing extended medical services to his employees regardless of where they live and covers “travel” related to the family planning and “pregnancy”.
With information from Reuters and EFE
Source: Clarin
