Autonomy over personal data continues to be a feminist issue. The overturning of Roe v. Wade has stripped individuals of comprehensive personal data protection. Girls’ and women’s access to healthcare is now restricted by law throughout the country, and many fear that their private online activity will be weaponized by enabling unchecked overreach of tech companies misusing data, illuminating the bleak future of digital privacy unless definitive action is taken.
To participate in contemporary society, using online applications is a necessity and not an option. Users are required to sign exhaustive disclosure requirements in order to accomplish simple tasks.
At dozens of pages long, these disclosures are deliberately nonsensical and overly technical to ensure that the average user neither reads nor understands what they are agreeing to. This takes away the ostensible “choice” of how personal data is handled, only further serving to take advantage of the most vulnerable and disproportionately affecting those who have had their bodily autonomy stripped from them.
The discussion about data collection is increasingly relevant, but Dobbs v. Jackson, in which the Supreme Court held that the United States Constitution does not confer a right to abortion, turned that disturbing possibility into our current reality. The regulatory framework dictating how applications and online platforms gather and record the information and data input by users is fragmented and…
