Lost in the acrimonious abortion debate in the wake of last week’s Supreme Court ruling are fundamental and downright scary questions. What does the brave new world of privacy? What privacy protections are there, or what should there be now that abortion is illegal in so many states? A brave new world that may terrify tech companies and ultimately all of us.
A recent report from Reuters entitled U.S. Tech Industry Frets About Handing Data to States Prosecuting Abortion sets out the issue. When you go online and search the web, there is a record created of your search history– and the sites to which you go. There is also geolocation data generated.
Let’s face it, companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook collect enormous amounts of personal data: where we’ve been, what we’ve bought, who we’ve talked to, and what we’ve said. These companies have a record of and can tell advertisers about just everything about you. Every time you run a search, you are revealing something about yourself. You are leaving more and more information.
Indeed, this very record enables tech companies to sell advertising and stay in business. It’s why when you search the web for, say, lawnmowers, you get an email or Facebook message from a lawnmower seller.
These vast digital records could be used by law enforcement to ferret out those in states where abortion is illegal who are looking to obtain an abortion
But now, these vast digital records could be used by law enforcement to ferret out those in states where abortion is illegal who are looking to obtain an abortion in a state where it’s permitted. Information that might indicate plans to terminate a pregnancy, for example. Information that might suggest someone will aid a woman in search
