What police could find out about your illegal abortion

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.vox.com/recode/23059057/privacy-abortion-phone-data-roe

The leaked draft of a Supreme Court decision that could overturn Roe v. Wade has many preparing for what appears to be an all-but-certain future in which abortion is illegal in many parts of the United States. The pervasive and barely regulated data collection industry could have a big role to play in investigating and proving cases against people accused of performing or getting what may soon be illegal abortions.

We don’t know if that will happen, but we do know a lot of data is readily available if law enforcement wants it because there’s very little, legally, restricting its collection. And we also know the police use that data all the time, getting it through court order or by simply buying it. Through your phone and your computer, they can find out where you go, who you interact with, what you say, what you search the internet for, which websites you visit, and what apps you download.

This isn’t just true of abortion-related data; police have always had ways to access your private data. But now, a lot of people who weren’t concerned about what the police or data brokers knew about them before may suddenly have a lot to worry about — and there’s very little out there to keep their private lives private in a court of law.

“The dangers of unfettered access to Americans’ personal information have never been more obvious,” Sen. Ron Wyden, a longtime advocate and proponent of online privacy laws, told Recode.

One big concern seems to be whether period tracker apps could be used to find and prosecute people who get abortions. Period apps are problematic for a lot of reasons, but somehow tipping off the police that you got an abortion is pretty far down on the list. Far worse is the pervasive and barely regulated data collection industry that has been allowed to build and share detailed profiles of all of us for years. The fact is, it’s easy enough to delete a period app from your phone. It’s a lot harder to delete the data it collected about you. And it’s just about impossible to conceal the rest of the online trail that could help prove you broke an anti-abortion law.

*snip*

[hlthe2b]

1. There are technical solutions, including the signal app, transporting a phone in a signal-blocking

(faraday) bag, use of burner phones, encryption, and discussing personal issues with no one.

Good gawd, did anyone think we'd have to be educating young women on how to be maximally paranoid, which in this case is damned realistic?

[PortTack]

2. This! We need to help women get real smart about this stuff.

[ck4829]

7. Yep

[XanaDUer2]

3. When I got my period

I tracked it on paper. Calendar

[slightlv]

4. calendar

myself, and everyone I know, have moved from paper calendars to digital. This is the problem.

[ck4829]

5. They should not have the funds to do this. Period.

[Dan]

6. Something else people should keep in mind.

Jury Nulification.

DA can’t convict without the consent of the jurors.