Three House Democrats are demanding answers from data brokers and personal health apps over assurances they will not divulge sensitive health data that could reveal women’s efforts to seek abortions following the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
House Oversight and Reform Committee members Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), and Sara Jacobs (D-CA) have launched an investigation into tech companies that traffic in private reproductive health data and the period-tracking apps that record them. They’ve asked the companies to hand over to Congress all documents regarding sensitive health data collection, as well as all communications the companies have with state or local governments regarding the collection and dissemination of the sensitive data.
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The members are also asking data brokers and period-tracking apps to divulge their policies for collecting and retaining that data, procedures related to the sale, trade, transfer, or otherwise sharing of data, a list of entities such as other companies that have access to the data, and each company’s revenue and profits related to the sale of user data from 2017 onward.
“The collection of sensitive data could pose serious threats to those seeking reproductive care as well as to providers of such care, not only by facilitating intrusive government surveillance, but also by putting people at risk of harassment, intimidation, and even violence,” Maloney, Krishnamoorthi, and Jacobs wrote.
Concerns over private data sharing have been building since the Supreme Court’s draft opinion in May signaled the justices’ willingness to overturn Roe v. Wade, which they did in the June 24 ruling. Lax privacy standards on some period-tracking apps have led to fears that information a woman enters about her menstrual cycle could be weaponized if subpoenaed by law enforcement building a case against someone believed to have violated restrictions on abortion. Even when period-tracking app users are anonymous, their data could still be purchased by data brokers and shared with third parties, such as Big Tech companies.
“Geographic data collected by mobile phones may be used to locate people seeking care at clinics, and search and chat history referring to clinics or medication create digital bread crumbs revealing interest in an abortion,” the members said.
Procuring private health information from mobile apps is a gray area given that the data is not protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The 1996 law established privacy standards to protect sensitive health data from being shared without the patient’s consent, but it has little application to apps, even healthcare-related ones. It was narrowly tailored to apply only to healthcare providers, health insurance payers, and healthcare clearing houses.
The 23 most popular women’s health apps collected personal health data, including behavioral health data, and 61% of the apps allowed location tracking, according to a May survey published in the journal JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. Only 12 of the apps asked permission to collect and store user data, and 20 of the total 23 went ahead and shared user data with third parties.
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The Democrats’ latest investigation into sensitive data collection comes less than a month after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) introduced the Health and Location Data Protection Act targeting the sale of location data by third-party data brokers. The legislation would ban companies from selling or transferring sensitive data and empower the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to enforce the law.
