Governor Gretchen Whitmer is calling on the technology industry to do more to protect the privacy and data of customers. She’s sent a letter to several of the biggest tech firms. The governor’s office released the following this week:
Today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer sent a letter to the leaders of Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft, five of the world’s biggest tech companies that manage nearly every American’s data. She called on them to take additional steps to protect people’s data, especially health data, as extremists try to weaponize it to go after women seeking reproductive health care and prosecute nurses and doctors for doing their jobs. She also called on the companies to be more transparent about what data they are providing and to whom. This letter follows reports of law enforcement in other states using Facebook data to go after women seeking abortion care. Today’s action builds on the governor’s leadership to protect reproductive freedom.
“Every Michigander deserves privacy and control over their data, which includes so much personal information about our health, habits, and lives,” said Governor Whitmer. “We know the risks of someone getting access to our data. If it fell into the wrong hands, our digital footprint could tell someone where we are, who we were with, what we bought—even intimate details about our health. Without adequate protections, that data could be used to go after women seeking reproductive health care or to prosecute nurses and doctors for doing their jobs. Amid an ongoing assault on women’s bodily autonomy by extremists who do not hesitate to use location and health data to target Michiganders, we must do more to protect everyone’s fundamental right to privacy. While some elected officials take steps to control and surveil women, nurses, and doctors, I am fighting like hell to protect Michiganders’ freedom and privacy.”
“As custodians of our most sensitive data, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft have a responsibility to protect their customers and their privacy,” continued Governor Whitmer. “I am grateful for the steps you have already taken—to varying degrees—to enhance digital privacy, but your work to protect our data must be an ongoing effort. Trust—in government and the private sector—is a precious resource, and firms that value privacy will benefit their shareholders by fostering a transparent relationship that prioritizes the needs of their users.”
Background on Governor Whitmer’s Letter to Big Tech
The governor’s letter called on Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft to bolster their efforts to protect personal data. As reproductive freedom is under attack and extremists seek to use location and health data to go after women, nurses, and doctors, the governor called on big tech to do more to protect their fundamental right to privacy and bodily autonomy. Her letter asked them to do the following:
Provide users with clearer mechanisms to opt out of data retention and sharing for sensitive health information, including any sale of such data to third parties. These mechanisms should be paired with additional steps to protect user data, such as automatically deleting such data after a set period of time.
User information should be provided to law enforcement only in response to requests that conform to the relevant law. Whenever legally possible, companies must notify users when law enforcement make a request for their communications or personal information.
Companies must make information publicly available about requests they receive for sensitive health data and other information that could be used to prosecute women for seeking health care. They must publish and regularly update information about all such requests received for user communications or information concerning reproductive health or other health matters, including search histories.
To view the full letter, click the link below:
