As cybersecurity concerns often plague the senior living industry, one troubling report about how Google handles personal data is raising alarm bells with a group of US Senators.
On Wednesday, Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) led a group of 10 senators asking Google for answers after a recent Washington Post report. The story showed that Google could be putting personal health data at risk and is being used to advertise potentially dangerous products.
The Washington Post article stated that, despite promising to delete sensitive location data, Google still retains location data about users who visit clinics, hospitals and other “particularly personal” locations such as counseling centers, domestic violence shelters, abortion clinics, fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities, weight loss clinics and cosmetic surgery clinics. The Washington Post reporter visited several abortion clinics and found that Google Maps, rather than deleting this data, retained a record of his visits. When contacted by the reporter, a Google spokesperson didn’t address the violation and instead reiterated its previous privacy promise.
This is a potentially troubling development for the senior living community, as residents are increasingly using smartphone technology and Google to access healthcare information.
“Claiming and publicly announcing that Google will delete sensitive location data, without consistently doing so, could be considered a deceptive practice,” the Senators said in a statement. The Democratic lawmakers also cited a second report finding that Google failed to delete sensitive location data in nearly 60% of test cases over the last several months.
