Senator Markey Queries White House on Plans to Use Americans’ Location Data for Coronavirus Response

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) sent a letter to the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) regarding recent reports that it is considering future partnerships with companies including Google, Facebook, IBM and others, some of which would involve analyzing information about the location of those companies’ users, to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. In his letter, Sen Markey affirms that the federal government “must use technological innovations and collaboration with the private sector to combat the coronavirus,” but raises concerns about the privacy risks that location data collection and processing pose. “A person’s location information can reveal other sensitive details, such as a place of employment, religious affiliation, or political preferences,” writes Sen Markey in his letter. “We need assurances that collection and processing of these types of information, even if aggregated and anonymized, do not pose safety and privacy risks to individuals.”