U.S. tech industry frets about handing data to states prosecuting abortion - Reuters

PALO ALTO, Calif., June 24 (Reuters) - The technology industry is bracing for the uncomfortable possibility of having to hand over pregnancy-related data to law enforcement, in the wake of the U.S.

As state laws limiting abortion kick in after the ruling, technology trade representatives told Reuters they fear police will obtain warrants for customers' search history, geolocation and other information indicating plans to terminate a pregnancy.

The concern reflects how the data collection practices of companies like Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google, Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) have the potential to incriminate abortion-seekers for state laws that many in Silicon Valley oppose.

"It is very likely that there’s going to be requests made to those tech companies for information related to search histories, to websites visited," said Cynthia Conti-Cook, a technology fellow at the Ford Foundation.

Eva Galperin, cybersecurity director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said on Twitter on Friday, "The difference between now and the last time that abortion was illegal in the United States is that we live in an era of unprecedented digital surveillance.".

companies including Walt Disney Co and Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc said on Friday they will cover employees' expenses if they have to travel for abortion services after the U.S.

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