Why Elizabeth Warren is right to ban the sale of geolocation and health data
Acting in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s amendments to the landmark Roe v. Wade case regulating abortion rights, Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren has proposed legislation to prohibit any transaction, sale or transfer of users’ geolocation or health data, a move that would effective shut down an entire industry of data brokers engaged in the mass marketing of this type of information under the cover of hidden clauses in terms of service agreements that no one ever reads.
I can’t think of any context in which the sale of our geolocation or health data is a good thing. There are thousands of cases in which I may have an interest in an app or service of some kind collecting my geolocation or health data: from the lights in my house turning on when I’m coming home, to exercise monitoring or pill reminder apps, but under no circumstances would I want that data sold and used for purposes other than those for which I expressly granted my permission.
Extracting data obtained by an app with the user’s consent and turning it into material that others use, generally, for ultra-targeted advertising illustrates the depths to which marketing sunk: it is such a clear, conscious and obvious abuse of privacy regarding data that deserves a particularly high level of protection, and with the sole…
