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Hi,
With the Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, we need to step up efforts to protect Americans who would be at risk of retaliation or prosecution. Will you sign this petition to urge Congress to protect users' private personal data from falling into the hands of anti-abortion forces?
A shady internet data broker called SafeGraph was caught selling data that tracked people who visited a Planned Parenthood facility.1 Under intense public pressure they stopped selling it, but data brokers should never have even been allowed to sell this personal information in the first place.
Millions of Americans use apps to track their menstrual cycles. Now there are concerns about the safety of the data on those apps.2 We need Congress to protect that data from being sold, especially to people who might use it to go after people who seek abortion or other reproductive services.
Thankfully, there's a bill in Congress that can help protect users' private personal data – and Demand Progress has been leading the charge to get it passed. It's called the 4th Amendment Is Not For Sale Act – and now is the time to tell Congress to pass it!
We've already seen similar data be used to place Americans in harm's way. In 2020, there was a public outcry when the company that made Muslim Pro, an app that helps Muslims with daily prayers, was caught selling users' data to brokers whose clients include U.S. military contractors.2
It's bad enough that someone was selling the location data of people who've visited a Planned Parenthood. If abortion is outlawed in any state, it will create a market for law enforcement, government agencies, and private individuals who oppose abortion to buy data that could track who might seek abortion services.
Search engine history, phone and text message history, and even apps designed to track menstruation cycles all collect data on our personal lives. If that data is sold, it could make it harder to get an abortion or protect the privacy of those who have obtained one.
Demand Progress has been a leader in fighting for your rights and privacy. As part of that work, we're pushing Congress to pass the 4th Amendment Is Not For Sale Act. The bill would prevent government and law enforcement agencies from purchasing personal data from internet data brokers and 3rd parties. Now this fight just took on a new urgency.
We've already laid the groundwork, meeting with members of Congress. Remarkably for today's polarized times, we even secured bipartisan support for the bill. Now it's your turn. Speak up and tell your members of Congress to pass the 4th Amendment Is Not For Sale Act. This can't wait.
Thanks for taking action,
Tihi and the team at Demand Progress
Sources:
1. Vice, "Data Broker SafeGraph Stops Selling Location Data of People Who Visit Planned Parenthood," May 4, 2022.
2. NPR, "How period tracking apps and data privacy fit into a post-Roe v. Wade climate," May 10, 2022.
3. LA Times, "Muslims reel over a prayer app that sold user data: 'A betrayal from within our own community'" November 23, 2020.
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