Security News > 2022 > June > Abortion rights: US senators seek ban on sale of health location data

A group of senators wants to make it illegal for data brokers to sell sensitive location and health information of individuals' medical treatment.

"When abortion is illegal, researching reproductive health care online, updating a period-tracking app, or bringing a phone to the doctor's office all could be used to track and prosecute women across the US," Sen. Ron Wyden, a co-sponsor of the Health and Location Data Protection Act, said in a statement.

The legislation filed by Warren would ban data brokers from selling or transferring location and health data - with exceptions for compliance with HIPAA and speech protected by the First Amendment - require the FTC to develop rules to implement the law within 180 days, enable the FTC, state attorneys general and individuals to sue those who violate the law and give the FTC $1 billion over the next decade to carry out the work.

Warren said that "With this extremist Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe v. Wade and states seeking to criminalize essential health care, it is more crucial than ever for Congress to protect consumers' sensitive data. The Health and Location Data Protection Act will ban brokers from selling Americans' location and health data, rein in giant data brokers, and set some long overdue rules of the road for this $200 billion industry."

"We are concerned that, in a world in which abortion could be made illegal, Google's current practice of collecting and retaining extensive records of cell phone location data will allow it to become a tool for far-right extremists looking to crack down on people seeking reproductive health care," they wrote.

Democrat senators sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking what the agency was doing about data brokers that are buying and selling location data collected from apps on smartphones.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/06/17/bill-location-data-ban-roe/