In the wake of latest privateness issues post-Roe, the FTC has warned firms and knowledge brokers that it could crack down on any misuse of well being and placement knowledge. The company stopped in need of detailing any new steps to safeguard delicate reproductive well being knowledge however pressured it could search out firms that break current knowledge privateness legal guidelines. In a brand new blog post, the FTC wrote that it was “committed to using the full scope of its legal authorities” to safeguard shopper privateness. It additionally famous that apps that monitor durations and fertility, in addition to any product that collects well being or location knowledge may expose people to hurt, significantly these searching for abortions.
“The Commission is committed to using the full scope of its legal authorities to protect consumers’ privacy. We will vigorously enforce the law if we uncover illegal conduct that exploits Americans’ location, health, or other sensitive data. The FTC’s past enforcement actions provide a roadmap for firms seeking to comply with the law,” wrote the company’s performing affiliate director within the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection Kristin Cohen within the put up.
The FTC’s assertion arrives only some days after the Biden administration’s July 8th government order on abortion entry, through which it requested the FTC to take steps to guard abortion knowledge privateness, together with launching a activity drive. In mild of the Dobbs ruling, digital privateness teams have warned that police can simply use location monitoring and different delicate knowledge to prosecute these suspecting of getting an abortion in states the place it’s now unlawful.
Period-tracking apps are simply one of many many instruments that regulation enforcement businesses can use to construct a case towards an individual suspected of getting an abortion. As each digital privateness teams have famous, health trackers, search histories, GPS map apps and virtually any on-line exercise could possibly be truthful sport for regulation enforcement in states with abortion bans. Location knowledge will also be misused. The FTC famous a 2017 Massachusetts case the place an organization despatched focused adverts on abortion options to anybody who crossed a “digital fence” outdoors an abortion clinic.
Perhaps for instance of how aggressive it has been with apps that misused replica well being knowledge up to now, the FTC additionally talked about a settlement it reached final yr with widespread period-tracking app Flo. The company had alleged that Flo shared delicate well being knowledge with outdoors events, regardless of promising to maintain such info non-public. As a consequence, Flo agreed to acquire person consent previous to sharing info with outdoors events and to launch an unbiased privateness overview. Flo is hardly the one reproductive well being app to share delicate person knowledge. A May examine of 20 different period-tracking apps by VPN firm Surfshark discovered that 9 shared knowledge for third-party adverts and 10 collected coarse location info.
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