Google under scrutiny over pledge to protect abortion location data

TTP said: It is unclear how Google plans to implement these [abortion-related] policies, and how long sensitive locations will remain on users’ location timelines,’ Photograph: Jeff Chiu/AP

Google’s promise to protect the location history of users who visit abortion clinics is coming under scrutiny after researchers found that a user who had brief access to another user’s Android phone – such as a boyfriend logging into his girlfriend’s phone – could relatively easily monitor the user’s movements.

The finding by Tech Transparency Project, a research arm of the non-profit Campaign for Accountability, comes weeks after Google announced in a blogpost that it would delete entries to sensitive locations – such as abortion clinics or domestic violence shelters – if its systems identified that someone has visited one of these places. The 1 July blogpost said the change would take effect “in the coming weeks”.