40 senators have just written to Google asking it to stop collecting and storing cellphone location data that could be used to hunt down and prosecute women under strict anti-abortion laws.
The change would dramatically reduce the police’s ability to see who had visited an abortion clinic and when — it could help stop people being jailed just for seeking reproductive healthcare.
With Americans’ constitutional right to abortion about to get overturned, this is urgent — but Google won’t act unless it feels overwhelming pressure. Add your name and let’s show Google CEO Sundar Pichai that citizens everywhere back this call:
Google: don’t help the anti-abortion extremists
Google currently holds detailed data on the movements of millions of Americans — it knows where they went for dinner last night, where they dropped their kid this morning, which grocery store they visit every day. And if police have a warrant, Google has to hand this information over.
Terrifyingly, this can include data on everyone who was near a particular place at a given time – Google received over 11,000 orders like this from law enforcement in 2020. It’s a dream for anti-abortion extremists.
Google’s level of surveillance is super creepy even without draconian abortion laws. Now the threat to liberty is clearer than ever. Join the call and let’s stop Big Tech from facilitating the far-right’s assault on women.
Google: don’t help the anti-abortion extremists
More information
Privacy groups warn about data-tracking if Roe is overturned
NBC. 11 May 2022.
NBC. 11 May 2022.
Democrats Want To Stop Google's Location Data From Being Used Against People Who Get Abortions
Buzzfeed News. 24 May 2022.
Buzzfeed News. 24 May 2022.