Google will automatically weed out location information from people who visit abortion clinics or other places that could trigger legal issues now that the US Supreme Court has opened the door for states to ban termination of pregnancy.
The company behind the leading internet search engine and the Android software that powers most of the world’s smartphones detailed the new privacy protections in a blog post on Friday.
Besides automatically deleting location history at abortion clinics, Google also cited counseling centers, fertility centers, addiction treatment centers, weight loss clinics, and surgery clinics. aesthetic like other destinations that will be erased from users’ location histories.
Users have always had the ability to edit their location histories themselves, but Google will proactively do this for them, which is an added layer of protection.
“We are committed to providing strong privacy protections to people who use our products, and we will continue to seek new ways to strengthen and improve these protections,” wrote in the blog post Jen Fitzpatrick, senior vice president. from Google.
The pledge comes amid growing pressure on Google and other big tech companies to do more to protect the masses of sensitive personal information from government authorities and other outsiders.
Demands for tighter privacy controls were sparked by the recent US Supreme Court ruling overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. The reversal could make abortion illegal in more than a dozen states, raising concerns that data about people’s location, texts, searches and emails could be used in lawsuits against abortion procedures or even for medical care requested in the event of a miscarriage.
Like other tech companies, Google receives thousands of government requests for users’ digital records each year as part of investigations into misconduct. Google says it opposes search warrants and other requests that are too broad or seem baseless.