EFF – Location Tracking Tools Endanger Abortion Access. Lawmakers Must Act Now“…EFF has warned before about how the location data market threatens reproductive rights. The recent reports on Locate X illustrate even more starkly how the collection and sale of location data endangers patients in states with abortion bans and restrictions.In late October, 404 Media reported that privacy advocates from Atlas Privacy, a data removal company, were able to get their hands on Locate X and use it to track an individual device’s location data as it traveled across state lines to visit an abortion clinic. Although the tool was designed for law enforcement, the advocates gained access by simply asserting that they planned to work with law enforcement in the future. They were then able to use the tool to track an individual device as it traveled from an apparent residence in Alabama, where there is a complete abortion ban, to a reproductive health clinic in Florida, where abortion is banned after 6 weeks of pregnancy. Following this report, we published a guide to help people shield themselves from tracking tools like Locate X. While we urge everyone to take appropriate technical precautions for their situation, it’s far past time to address the issue at its source. The onus shouldn’t be on individuals to protect themselves from such invasive surveillance. Tools like Locate X only exist because U.S. lawmakers have failed to enact legislation that would protect our location data from being bought and sold to the highest bidder. Thankfully, there’s still time to reshape the system, and there are a number of laws legislators could pass today to help protect us from mass location surveillance. Remember: when our location information is for sale, so is our safety…”