Safeguard ‘Reproductive Health Privacy’ on App Store, State AGs Urge Apple

The attorneys general of nine blue states plus the District of Columbia worry about “reproductive health privacy” on the App Store since the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, they wrote Apple CEO Tim Cook Monday. The AGs urged Cook to “protect consumers’ private reproductive health information.” Third-party apps available on the App Store “collect consumers’ private reproductive health data, which can be weaponized against consumers by law enforcement, private entities, or individuals,” they said. “This gap in Apple’s protections threatens the privacy and safety of App Store consumers, and runs directly counter to Apple’s publicly expressed commitment to protect user data.” They asked Apple “to ensure that the apps on its App Store meet the privacy standards necessary to protect against the misuse of private reproductive health data.” Apple should require app developers “to either certify to Apple or affirmatively represent in their privacy policies” that they will delete data “not essential” to the use of the app, including location history, search history and any other related data of consumers “who may be seeking, accessing, or helping to provide reproductive health care,” they said. Apple should also require developers to “provide clear and conspicuous notices regarding the potential for App Store applications to disclose to third parties user data related to reproductive health care, and require that applications do so only when required by a valid subpoena, search warrant, or court order,” they said. Developers of App Store apps that collect consumers’ reproductive health data or that sync with user health data stored on Apple devices should “implement at least the same privacy and security standards as Apple with regards to that data,” said the AGs. Apple didn’t comment Monday.