Abortion bounty hunters could use location data to track down patients
SalonThis article originally appeared at Common Dreams. A location data firm said Wednesday that it would no longer sell information about people who visit abortion clinics after reporting on the company's sales raised alarm, but privacy advocates warned that strict regulation is needed to protect patients from such sales—particularly in light of news that abortion rights are likely to be rolled back by the U.S. Supreme Court. Vice reported Tuesday that data firm SafeGraph has sold sets of aggregated location data regarding people who have visited abortion clinics including Planned Parenthood, showing where patients travel from, how much time they spend at the healthcare centers, and where they go afterwards. The report sparked outcry from rights advocates including Frederike Kaltheuner, director for technology and human rights at Human Rights Watch, who said activities like SafeGraph's represent "what lack of data regulation means in practice." Under laws like one that's currently being debated in Missouri, which would allow residents to sue women who leave the state to obtain abortion care, "location data like this could be used to build the case against a woman," said Democratic strategist Max Burns.