FTC threatens to sue firm (Kochava) allegedly revealing abortion clinic visits
Source: Washington Post
FTC threatens to sue firm allegedly revealing abortion clinic visits
A lawsuit against the agency shows how it might defend health data after the Supreme Court left states free to outlaw abortion
By Cat Zakrzewski
August 18, 2022 at 7:00 a.m. EDT
The Federal Trade Commission is threatening to sue an adtech company it alleges reveals people’s visits to sensitive locations, including women’s reproductive health clinics, according to a lawsuit against the agency.
The agency’s proposed complaint, against Idaho-based Kochava, argues the company violates laws that prohibit “unfair or deceptive practices” by allowing its customers to license data collected from mobile devices that can identify people and track their visits to health-care providers.
In addition to women’s reproductive health clinics, the agency argues that the data can be used to trace people to therapists’ offices, addiction recovery centers and other medical facilities. Because the coordinates the company collects included a time stamp, they can be used to identify when a person visited a location.
Kochava revealed the threat in a Friday lawsuit, where the company says that the agency “wrongfully alleges” that it is in violation of consumer protection laws. The FTC declined to comment.
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/18/ftc-abortion-location-data/
Non-paywalled link: https://wapo.st/3T2XUis