Can it be illegal to collect private data from dating apps to identify gay priests? No, according to Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal, a conservative Catholic group in Colorado. in a survey of Washington Postit is revealed that the religious group has spent more than $4 million to recover data from dating apps, particularly gay dating, through a tracking app.
Shared with all bishops in the United States, the personal information did not include user names or nicknames, but rather location data, as well as the type of device used or Internet service provider. By crossing this information with that of the addresses of the various religious buildings, the Catholic association was able to carry out its research and find the active priests on these dating apps.
grindr to the head
The information collected refers to a period from 2018 to 2021 and therefore refers to various apps, such as OkCupid, Scruff or Growlr. But the main provider of data was Grindr, the app that “investigators” spent the longest on, looking for gay priests.
If the moral question about respect for private life is seriously raised here, from the legal point of view, the Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal, however, did not make any mistakes. No US law prohibits the sale of the most confidential data. This was particularly the case recently with Google directing low-income women to anti-abortion centers through fake ads. The Catholic group simply turned to an advertising data buying and selling site to recover this confidential information.
In his text, the president indicates that his work has not been “more than a work of love and service, practical and spiritual. It is a blessing to be able to offer constructive assistance in matters such as parish life, formation and administration in the Church.”
A dozen worried priests
In total, a dozen religious have been identified by the Catholic group as active users of these dating applications. Nothing indicates today the fate that will be reserved for these priests. Some sources mentioned by the Washington Post they indicate that the religious in question could be marginalized from any promotion or even sent to retirement sooner.
Already in 2021, members of the project led by Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal had been at the origin of the forced departure of Jeffrey Burrill, an American priest at that time in charge of the conference of Catholic bishops of the States. -United. Members of the conservative group had revealed that Jeffrey Burrill was an active Grindr user and had been seen at a gay bar.
As for the applications, they all claim to have stopped sharing the geolocation data of their members. Grindr claims that it only shares some of the information with advertising partners. Growlr also claims that location data is no longer shared, even for advertising purposes. OkCupid claims that location information is “hidden within a one-mile radius for security reasons.”
Source: BFM TV
