Domestic violence shelters, addiction treatment facilities, and especially aborn clinics are all considered to be ‘sensitive places’ in the eyes of Google. The commonly used site recently made the announcement this past Saturday, July 2, 2022, that they will be completely removing all users’ location history if they are found visiting one of the previously named services. This information comes almost directly after the Supreme Court made the executive decision to overturn Roe versus Wade banning abortion in various states throughout America.
Google’s Senior Vice President of Core Systems and Engagement, Jen Fitzpatrick, vocalized his thoughts on the touchy subject — “We are committed to delivering robust privacy protections for people who use our products, and we will continue to look for new ways to strengthen and improve these protections. We remain committed to protecting our users against improper government demands for data, and we will continue to oppose demands that are overly broad or otherwise legally objectionable.”
The initial announcement was released to the public this past Friday, July 1, 2022, in a blog post that simply wrote,” Today, we are announcing that if our systems identify that someone has visited one of these places [abortion clinics, addiction facilities, etc.], we will delete these entries from Location History soon after they visit… This change will take effect in the coming weeks.” Since it is confirmed that the corporation will not take action until the next couple of weeks, users can only prepare for the coming consequences if they cross the already drawn line.