Switch off location sharing on your smartphone. Plug privacy extensions into your browser. Delete apps that track your menstrual cycle. Such is the advice being given to women in the US determined to protect their rights over their own bodies following reports that the Supreme Court might soon repeal the landmark Roe vs Wade ruling.
The possibility that abortion may be recriminalised in many US states shines another unforgiving spotlight on the data harvesting and selling activities of many tech companies. The techniques used to target consumers and sell us slippers can just as easily identify those consulting abortion services. Many fear such data could be subpoenaed by the courts of anti-abortion states or simply bought by the police from data brokers. A triangular game between users, tech companies and legislators now needs to play out if privacy rights are to be protected.
To highlight the threat to civil liberties, Vice media recently paid a data broker $160 for one week’s worth of location data covering 600 Planned Parenthood clinics. This data enabled them to track where groups of people had come from and where they went afterwards.