Data Broker Is Selling Location Data of People Who Visit Abortion Clinics

[TheProle]

Source: Vice

A location data firm is selling information related to visits to clinics that provide abortions including Planned Parenthood facilities, showing where groups of people visiting the locations came from, how long they stayed there, and where they then went afterwards, according to sets of the data purchased by Motherboard.

The data sale is obviously more important in the context of a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion in which Justice Alito indicated that the court is ready to repeal the decision in Roe v. Wade, the decades-old precedent that has provided federal protections to those seeking an abortion. If that draft does become a formal decision, it would immediately fully or partly ban abortion rights in at least 13 states.

How data collecting intersects with abortion rights, or the lack thereof, is likely to gather more attention in the wake of the draft. The country may also see an increase in vigilante activity or forms of surveillance and harassment against those seeking or providing abortions. With this aggregated location data available to anyone on the open market, customers could include anti-abortion vigilantes as well. Anti-abortion groups are already fairly adept at using novel technology for their goals. In 2016, an advertising CEO who worked with anti-abortion and Christian groups sent targeted advertisements to women sitting in Planned Parenthood clinics in an attempt to change their decision around getting an abortion. The sale of the location data raises questions around why companies are selling data based on abortion clinics specifically, and whether they should introduce more safeguards around the purchase of that information, if be selling it at all.

“It's bonkers dangerous to have abortion clinics and then let someone buy the census tracks where people are coming from to visit that abortion clinic,” Zach Edwards, a cybersecurity researcher who closely tracks the data selling marketplace, told Motherboard in an online chat after reviewing the data. “This is how you dox someone traveling across state lines for abortions—how you dox clinics providing this service.”

Read more: https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7vzjb/location-data-abortion-clinics-safegraph-planned-parenthood

[PoliticAverse]

1. And letting the CDC track you...

See: https://democraticunderground.com/10142911383

If you carry a cell phone you can be tracked wherever you go (or don't go) and that tacking information is available for a price.

[Mr.Bill]

2. Two words:

Burner phones.

Or, if you're going to a clinic, no phone. Also, we can use the same technology to track people protesting at women's health clinics.

[iluvtennis]

6. -+ agree. n/t

[oldsoftie]

8. And maybe thats the next step. Good for the goose.......

Harass THEM. Not a good path to go down but what. other options are there

[Bernardo de La Paz]

14. Three words

Vote for Rights!

"But her emails!" Well we got email abuse from the tRump Gang AND an attack on Roe v Wade.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. Four words

Get Out the Vote!

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. What can you do with data about people protesting?

There's no-one writing vigilante laws (or, once Roe is destroyed, criminal laws) allowing you to sue people who protest, or help people protest.

Yes, it does mean people visiting a woman's health clinic are going to have their movements tracked by the worst people in the USA, unless they turn off their phones.

[Ursus Rex]

55. Leave the phone at home.

Just turning off the phone does nothing except keep the amateur apps from tracking you. There is no small amount of suspicion that phone can be tracked unless it's in an RFID-blocking case, and if the risk is that great, why bother?

[Ingersollman]

22. One word

GILEAD

[Algernon Moncrieff]

35. Three words: F*ck with them!

Just start having people pull in and out of PP clinics. Start flooding the data gatherers with requests. Thousands of them.

[Igel]

36. That doesn't work.

Unless you get a burner phone for each one-way trip.

The idea isn't that they link the phone's location to the phone's number to your identity.

The idea is that they link the phone's motion to a particular neighborhood or block, then might could use other information to figure out who on that block held the phone.

If they did that with my phone they'd find that most of my trips are between home and work, and it's not hard to figure out who in my neighborhood works where I work. There's one of me.

Then they could figure out where I shop. I don't go to a gas station, but the grocery store has gas pumps. Confusingly, almost all my stops are within 2 miles of where I work or within a block of one of the two roads I take to go home. If I go more than a block off those roads it's an excursion--so those stops might only show up as pausing. Depending on the sample frequency and distance resolution, those stops may not show up at all, canceling out liquor store, drug store, Walmart, pet store, pizza or burger places, where my son spends 2 weeks out of every 4 ... etc. Still, neighborhood + workplace uniquely IDs me. Then the privacy is in the masking of almost all my other activities. Places like the Asian market or used book store might stand out, but that might only show up as a "census tract"--then did I go to the bookstore or the Lao restaurant near it, the Asian market or the Salvadoran restaurant or noodle house?

[HighFired49]

3. HIPPA!

Seems like they could be sued under HIPPA for breach of privacy, and the Constitutional right to travel (LIBERTY)!

[Salviati]

17. Nope.

It would be illegal for the clinic to hand out such information, but it's not illegal for data brokers to do the same thing, because they are not your medical provider.

Jon Oliver did a segment about this very thing a few weeks ago:

?t=501

[HighFired49]

48. Thanks

Forgot about that very important point. Maybe we could lobby to get the data brokers include under HIPPA restrictions.

[Rebl2]

26. You would think

Next thing you know they will try to get rid of HIPPA

[paleotn]

32. HIPPA doesn't work like that....

It applies only to healthcare providers, insurers, etc. divulging medical information without consent. Unless the source(s) are healthcare related organizations, HIPPA doesn't apply.

[catrose]

38. And yet I've been calling medical offices and asking whether the staff is vaxxed,

and they say they can't tell me because of HIPAA. I don't think it works like that either. If they say, "All staff are vaxxed," that's different than "Charlie isn't vaxxed." Funny how hospitals demanded all employees, even those who never see a patient, get vaxxed for everything up to a flu shot every year, but now a Covid vaccine is a problem.

[richdj25]

4. How about we all

visit abortion clinics, and then travel to the nearest white Christian evangelical church or enclave. That would make for some interesting numbers.

[hamsterjill]

18. Splendid idea!

I think you are on to something. What about politician’s residences? Just park on the street in front where not prohibited.

[msfiddlestix]

31. Check, and I'll see ya for a trip to a gun show just make it even more interesting.

[TexasBushwhacker]

49. Works for me!

[ck4829]

5. "I just need to take a quick restroom break" - Everybody

[iluvtennis]

7. 1984/ Big Brother is here. n/t

[appalachiablue]

24. ++

[Raven123]

9. Turn off your phone when you travel or get a burner

[hamsterjill]

19. Does turning it off make the tracking stop?

Not techno savvy here.

TIA.

[Raven123]

20. That's my understanding. Power off. No tracking

If I were concerned, I would turn off my phone before leaving home.

[hamsterjill]

21. Thank you.

I lead a pretty boring life, but one never knows! Good information to have.

[Raven123]

53. Just a follow up link on this topic.

Hope it helps. I guess it’s good to check your specific phone type.

https://techpp.com/2013/08/22/track-phone-turned-off/

[hamsterjill]

54. Thanks.

Sheesh - pretty scary.

[Rebl2]

27. 👆👆👆

[catrose]

39. I thought you had to take the battery out for it to stop tracking you, but it's been a while since I

checked.

[csziggy]

46. And a lot of the newer cell phones don't have removable batteries nt

[Raven123]

52. I found a link on this topic

Hope this helps. I have never used the “find my” feature on my phone. One less issue to deal with.

[link: https://techpp.com/2013/08/22/track-phone-turned-off/

[Raven123]

51. Just a link to follow up on this discussion. I think it depends on the phone.

link:https://techpp.com/2013/08/22/track-phone-turned-off/|

[Deminpenn]

50. You can turn off the location tracker also

on android smart phones.

[bucolic_frolic]

10. Stalking laws, protection from abuse, injunctions, doxxing

Throw it all in the mix and get some civil rights legal teams on it

[Deep State Witch]

11. Leave Your Phone at Home

Get a burner phone if you go to a clinic.

[Hieronymus Phact]

12. How about this:

Lets make it illegal to sell location data. Problem solved

[hueymahl]

30. This

100% this

[paleotn]

33. Exactly.

[2naSalit]

43. +1

[sarisataka]

13. We willing spend money

To purchase and use a hi-tech tracking device with some useful ancillary features. And will usually pay a monthly fee to keep it active.

It shouldn't be a surprise that people will then use the tracking information we agreed to.

[KS Toronado]

23. If you have to go somewhere you don't want to be tracked

Leave the damn phone at home & turned on, plus you have an alibi. Don't go buying a burner phone for a
day, we don't know for sure if it can be traced or not by who you call, you can get by a day w/o a phone.

[FakeNoose]

25. Haven't people learned to leave their phones at home

... when they don't want to be tracked? I thought that was made clear during the insurrection/coup last year.

[onlyadream]

28. Jeesh, maybe we should also visit our friendly abortion clinic just to say hi.

Off topic - A long time ago, I worked in building that had an abortion clinic (this was the mid 80s). When I went in on Saturday mornings for over-time, the anti-choicers would surround my car and wouldn't let me in. They'd plaster pics of dead fetuses to my window. I would just slowly idle my car to get through the crowd. It was always stressful. I was always afraid that they'd set a bomb off.

[NullTuples]

29. In Texas, buying that data can be seen as part of a business model

With payouts of $10,000+, what's a few thou invested? Especially if a single data set provides multiple cross-correlating hits.

[Martin68]

34. We are getting to the point where vigilanteism seems like the best option available to restore

democracy. NSA, pretend you didn't see this post.

[JCMach1]

37. Think I should write a fake GPS app that will switch randomly to a Satanic

Temple different places around the world every few minutes

[Crataegus]

40. Faraday Pouch

Put the phone into a Faraday pouch or bag. Do not remove it until you are back at your starting point. learn to do without your phone. The moment you open the bag your phone will start transmitting again. You can even buy Faraday fabric and make your oun bag. Test it before you go. Protect yourself!

[Hekate]

41. Please provide more info. I was wondering if aluminum foil wrap would do it. Thank you. nt

[Crataegus]

44. Faraday fabric

Faraday cages were developed by the military to protect equipment from EMP blasts from atomic weapons.
The faraday fabric was an offshoot of the cage. Even Amazon sells faraday pouches to protect phones and car key fobs.
You need to test your faraday bag by sealing your phone in it and having someone call you.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

https://nasafes.com/what-is-faraday-fabric/

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=FARADAY+FABRIC

[csziggy]

47. This sounds like a great Etsy business opportunity

Or the same as many women made masks at the beginning of the Covid shut down, they could make Faraday pouches to be given out at women's health clinics.

The idea that location data can be purchased is terrifying. What about domestic violence victims - their persecutors could find out where they are sheltering. If all it takes is money to trace them, no place is secure.

[Pachamama]

42. +10000

Thanks for mentioning this to people

[Texin]

45. Such a typically cynical rethuglican thing to do.