Businesses should prepare for increased data surveillance in wake of Roe decision

If it is any indication of a larger trend of asking private companies for users’ personal information, Google’s latest transparency report shows the highest number of government requests for user information yet. (Credit: patrisyu – Fotolia)

Nearly two months after the U.S. Supreme Court’s draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was leaked, the final ruling came June 24: “The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives,” the decision states.

To be sure, some privacy attorneys had already begun preparations since the leak, creating rubrics of the new ways in which pregnant peoples’ data would be collected and commodified—from geofencing to biometrics to period tracking apps—should Roe v. Wade be overturned. Now, many are also stressing the importance of educating businesses and individuals on how to protect themselves from a digital landscape that, as it stands, offers consumers little autonomy over their data.

As attorneys on both the consumer and business sides of the aisle across the U.S. are readying to see the repercussions of Dobbs in their particular states, they share a primary consensus: there’s likely to be an increase in digital surveillance, from advertisers and law enforcement alike.