Democratic senators from Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, and New Jersey have sent letters to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple CEO Tim Cook asking them to limit the amount of data apps on their platforms are allowed to collect in a bid to protect people seeking abortions.
"Following the leak of the Supreme Court’s draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade," the senators say, "we are concerned that anti-abortion prosecutors and other actors will attempt to access and leverage personal information—including data regarding location, online activity, health, and biometrics—in ways that threaten the wellbeing of those exercising their right to choose."
Senators Ed Markey (D-MA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (D-VT), and Cory Booker (D-NJ) sent the letters to Pichai and Cook on May 27. The letters are identical save for specific references to the Google Play Store and the App Store.
The senators warn that, "should the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, anti-abortion prosecutors and even vigilantes may be able to exploit online mining of data from apps" on the companies' platforms "to stop individuals from accessing abortion services or to target them retrospectively." They want Pichai and Cook to protect their users by preventing that data mining.
These safeguards could prove vital if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Motherboard has reported throughout May about data brokers selling information about people who visit abortion clinics—with one providing "heat maps" of where such people live— and people who use period tracking apps. Some have stopped peddling that data when pressed, but others continue to sell it.
"Information about app users’ fertility, browsing history indicating an interest in contraception, or location information showing that a user visited a gynecologist could become a data trove for actors who are intent on targeting, intimidating, and harming individuals who seek abortions or individuals who simply take steps to promote their reproductive health," the senators say.
Markey, Warren, Sanders, and Booker have asked Pichai and Cook to answer a series of seven questions regarding the policies of their platforms and the enforcement of those policies by June 17. Neither company immediately responded to a request for comment.