U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Elizabeth Warren
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., joined Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Friday in announcing that two data brokers have committed to permanently stop selling the location data of visitors to abortion clinics.
SafeGraph and Placer.ai made the commitment in response to a request by the senators.
The data brokers’ commitment follows a May letter that Sen. Padilla signed with his Senate colleagues criticizing the companies for collecting and selling the cell phone-based location data of people who visit abortion clinics.
“In the aftermath of the Supreme Court overturning of Roe v. Wade and the subsequent nationwide assault on abortion rights, protecting the privacy of those seeking abortion care is more important than ever,” Sen. Padilla said in a news release. “SafeGraph and Placer.ai’s promise to end the sale of location data of those visiting abortion clinics is a meaningful first step. We must continue to safeguard consumer privacy by enshrining these fundamental protections into law.”
“Two large data brokers have committed to stop selling the location data of people who visit abortion clinics. This is a good start,” Sen. Warren said in the news release. “But with Roe v. Wade dead and states across the country seeking to criminalize essential health care, we can’t rely on the goodwill of Big Tech to protect Americans’ data and safety.
“That’s why I’m calling on the United States Congress to pass my Health and Location Data Protection Act to ban brokers from selling location and health data and establish serious privacy protections for consumers,” Sen. Warren said.
In their responses to the senators’ letter, the two companies provided detailed answers about their data collection practices and answered Sen. Padilla’s call to permanently stop selling the location data of people who visit abortion clinics.
Safegraph said it is now impossible to access any information about visits to family planning centers from its platform.
Placer.ai said it has committed permanently to disabling user access to data about visitors to abortion clinics and “any additional sensitive locations that raise similar concerns — including other reproductive health providers that may not have been identified in the company’s prior reviews.”
In May, Sen. Padilla and other lawmakers sent a letter calling on Google to limit tracking of location data following Republican efforts to criminalize abortion. In response, on July 1, Google announced that it plans to quickly delete location history for people going to abortion clinics and other medical sites.
Sen. Padilla is a co-sponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill that would guarantee access and the right to provide abortion services in the United States. It was an effort to codify Roe v. Wade and passed in the House, but failed to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate.
email: kzehner@newspress.com
