Hillicon Valley — Dems probe collection of reproductive data
House Democrats are probing personal health apps and data broker companies over their handling of reproductive health data amid growing concerns over the sensitive data following the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade.
Meanwhile, the company behind several popular dating sites is halting all donations to Democratic and Republican attorneys general associations following the court’s decision, which cleared the way for states to ban or severely restrict abortion.
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Oversight Committee tackles health data
A House committee has launched an investigation into how companies are handling reproductive health data.
House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) and Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) sent separate letters to personal health apps and data broker companies expressing their concerns.
The letters seek information on how the sensitive, private data could be used to invade the privacy of those seeking reproductive health care.
“In an era of unprecedented digital surveillance, the distribution of personal health data further threatens the health, safety, and privacy of people and health care providers across the country,” the letters said.
They detailed data privacy concerns surrounding reproductive health applications, which they said are known to share information with data brokers and other third parties, and data brokers, which they said have been found to sell users’ sensitive location data.
Match halts donations to AGs
Match Group, which owns several dating sites and apps, including Hinge and Tinder, will suspend all political donations to both the Democratic and Republican attorneys general associations.
A source within Match Group confirmed the news to The Hill. This comes after the company received criticism over contributions to GOP attorneys general who supported the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and the 50-year constitutional right to abortion last month.
The New York Times was the first to report that Match Group was suspending some political donations to the two organizations. The source within Match Group confirmed that was accurate but said all donations would be halted to both groups.
Last year, Match Group donated more than $100,000 to the Republican Attorneys General Association, an organization that has supported restricting abortion access in states and worked to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to the Times. The company also donated more than $100,000 to the Democratic Attorneys General Association last year.
AMAZON HUB NOT COMING TO NJ
Amazon canceled its plans on Thursday to establish a new cargo hub in Newark, N.J., after experiencing resistance from local groups.
“Unfortunately, the Port Authority and Amazon have been unable to reach an agreement on final lease terms and mutually concluded that further negotiations will not resolve the outstanding issues,” said Port Authority Chief Operating Officer Huntley Lawrence.
The cargo hub, which would have been located at the Newark Liberty International Airport, was set to create 1,000 jobs and invest millions of dollars during the course of its 20-year lease, according to The New York Times.
This marks the second change in plans for Amazon’s expansion plans near New York and New Jersey resulting from opposition from various groups.
BITS & PIECES
An op-ed to chew on: We can do more than we think without a Fed digital dollar
Notable links from around the web:
Google Offers Concessions to Fend Off U.S. Antitrust Lawsuit (The Wall Street Journal / Miles Kruppa, Sam Schechner and Brent Kendall)
In its battle with Big Tech, the CFPB is building an army of engineers (Protocol / Issie Lapowsky)
Amazon Workers Who Commute Across the US-Mexico Border Every Day Are Organizing for Better Working Conditions (Motherboard / Lauren Kaori Gurley)
One more thing: Flight cancellation woes
Airlines endured a better-than-expected Fourth of July holiday weekend, but staffing shortages and other root causes of flight disruptions continue to loom large over the busy summer travel season.
U.S. carriers canceled roughly 1,400 flights between Friday and Monday, according to data from flight analytics firm masFlight. The number is down from Memorial Day weekend and last month’s Juneteenth holiday, when U.S. airlines canceled more than 3,400 flights over four days.
The data indicates that Independence Day wasn’t a total meltdown as some predicted.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.
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