Stop Reverse Demands (AB 793)

Dragnet surveillance demands – so-called “reverse warrants”, “geofence warrants,” or “keyword warrants” – are a form of unconstitutional digital surveillance that put people at grave risk in a Post-Roe America. They can compel tech companies to search their records and reveal the identities of all people who looked up a particular keyword online or drove down a certain street.

When it comes to protecting our health, reproductive rights, and safety, our digital data trail matters. Carrying a smartphone, using social media, and allowing apps to track our location is a part of all of our daily routines. But people who need reproductive or gender-affirming care have to contend with a digital surveillance apparatus that could absolutely be used against them as the political landscape shifts.

California law prohibits tech companies from sharing sensitive reproductive data, including whether a person has visited a clinic or searched for information about abortion care. However, this protection can be circumvented if the police conceal the fact that they are investigating an abortion – for instance, by requesting a list of people in the vicinity of a grocery store next to a Planned Parenthood clinic rather than the clinic itself. The only way to ensure California is a refuge for people seeking or providing abortions or gender-affirming care is to take these types of dragnet surveillance demands off the table.

Update:  There have been some recent developments that will largely accomplish what the bill intended. Earlier this year, Google decided to change the way it stores and accesses users’ opt-in Location History in Google Maps, making the data retention period shorter, and apparently making it impossible for the company to access location information. If you want to learn more about these changes, read EFF’s and ACLU NorCal’s blog posts on this development. Because Google is by far the primary recipient of geofence demands, this exciting development seems to limit the possibility of obtaining someone’s geolocation, and so the author and cosponsors have decided not to continue moving the bill at this time.

Bill author: Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Oakland)

Co-sponsors:

• ACLU California Action
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• If/When/How

Resources:

• California Bill Will Protect People Seeking Abortion and Gender-Affirming Care from Dragnet Digital Surveillance