Google Breaks Another Promise About Tracking Your Location History

Googlepledgedto stop track user visits toabortion clinicsshortly after Roe v. Wade wasoverturnedin June 2022 , which killed off the United States ’ largest federal miscarriage trade protection . The touchstone aimed to protect miscarriage seekers from prosecutors , especially in the14 states where abortion is now banned . Roughly 18 calendar month later , Google has not followed through on its promise , according to anew studyfrom Accountable Tech , and the troupe still pass over visits to abortion clinic .

Google ’s locating data is one of law of nature enforcement ’s favored tools in the United States . The U.S. government request the company ’s dataover 63,000 timesin the first one-half of 2023 , reaching an all - sentence high , and Google handed over information 85 % of the fourth dimension . That ’s why the company ’s tracking of visits to abortion clinics is a large deal , and why its promise to block off was so lionise . However , a fresh survey published on Thursday run psychometric test in seven state across the country and found that Google is still collecting Location story data for visits to miscarriage clinic , despite their promise . Accountable Tech say “ this theme makes it clear that Google can not be trusted to follow - through on its privacy hope . ”

The subject field ran experiment in Pennsylvania , Texas , Nevada , Florida , New York , Georgia , and North Carolina . In 50 % of its tests , Accountable Tech found that path to and from Planned Parenthood emplacement were saved in Google ’s Location story . The real name , Planned Parenthood , was scrub from Google ’s data , which mirrors Accountable Tech’sstudyfrom a class ago , but the data still understandably points to miscarriage clinic visit .

Planned Parenthood location in Missouri.

Planned Parenthood location in Missouri.Photo: Michael B. Thomas (Getty Images)

Google announced last December it would no longerhold onto people ’s location data – which would signify it ca n’t turn that information over to the police . Accountable Tech says this was a cocksure exploitation , but that Google ca n’t be trusted at face value on promises like this . The troupe received 5,764 “ geofence warrants ” in state where miscarriage is cast out between 2018 and 2020 , according toPolitico .

Google did not directly respond to Gizmodo ’s request for comment .

Google note that its Location account feature is default turned off , and you could turn it on if you choose . It ’s unclear how many exploiter Google tracks locating data on , but it ’s estimated the company is one of the world ’s large data point trackers , with overa billion usersof Google Maps globally .

U.S. Government requests for Google user data.