Would You like a feature Interview?
All Interviews are 100% FREE of Charge
A new Senate bill aims to expand protections for Americans’ health and location data. After the Supreme Court overturned constitutional abortion rights last year, such information could be used to identify individuals seeking reproductive health care services.
of It seeks to stop companies from selling personally identifiable health data for advertising purposes and prohibits data brokers from buying and selling precise location data. Additionally, the proposed legislation would give consumers more access and ownership of their health data. It will also impose more restrictions on companies’ use of personal health data without the user’s explicit consent.
The bill aims to ban the use of personally identifiable health data from any source for advertising. This includes data from you, your medical center, your fitness tracker, and your browser history. UPHOLD Privacy Act restrictions do not apply to public health campaigns.
The bill was introduced by Democratic Senators Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, and Mazzy Hirono. “With the Republican Party working to ban and criminalize reproductive health care nationwide, it is important to protect the privacy of reproductive data for everyone in our country,” Hirono said. in a statement“Everyone should be able to trust that personal data about their bodies and health care will be protected. It will give people peace of mind that their personal information is safe.”
after the Supreme Court overturned Law vs Wade Last June, lawmakers were required to protect consumer health data. Period tracking apps have certain concerns. Some developers of these apps have policies to protect users’ data.
The Federal Trade Commission said it would crack down on companies that misuse health and location data shortly after the Supreme Court ruling. This week, the agency’s online counseling service BetterHelp banned the sharing of consumers’ health data without their consent for targeting ads. The FTC has discovered that the company shares users’ email addresses, IPs, and health survey responses. BetterHelp says it has never shared clinical data from treatment sessions with advertisers, publishers, or social media companies.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by an editorial team independent of the parent company. Some stories contain affiliate links. When you purchase something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at the time of publication.