Facebook and Google are handing over user data to help police prosecute abortion seekers

[Nevilledog]

https://www.businessinsider.com/police-getting-help-social-media-to-prosecute-people-seeking-abortions-2023-2

No paywall
https://archive.is/fznwW

As abortion bans across the nation are implemented and enforced, law enforcement is turning to social media platforms to build cases to prosecute women seeking abortions or abortion-inducing medication – and online platforms like Google and Facebook are helping.

This spring, a woman named Jessica Burgess and her daughter will stand trial in Nebraska for performing an illegal abortion — with a key piece of evidence provided by Meta, the parent company of Facebook. Burgess allegedly helped her daughter find and take pills that would induce an abortion. The teenage Burgess also faces charges for allegedly illegally disposing of the fetus' remains.

TechCrunch reported internal chat logs were provided to law enforcement officers by the social media company, which indicated the pair had discussed their plan to find the medication through the app.

Meta said in a statement regarding the Nebraska incident that it responded to "valid legal warrants from local law enforcement" prior to the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned nationwide abortion rights and allowed for bans in some states.

And though the warrants Meta responded to in this case "did not mention abortion" — since law enforcement had requested the chat logs while investigating the teen's disposal of the remains, which incidentally revealed the discussion of abortion pills — the subsequent charges reveal how data released by social media companies can be used to prosecute people for abortion, even when they are being investigated for other reasons.

*snip*

[2naSalit]

1. Wow, is that legal?

[2naSalit]

5. Thanks...

i was wondering where it came from. Being compelled to and just handing over data are two different things, indeed.

[Nevilledog]

7. This article is from yesterday and it clearly says there was a warrant.

To me, this article just reinforces that you have essentially no identity protection online and you should rethink posting anything personal on social media platforms.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

8. This general story from multiple outlets really has been posted on DU for a few weeks now

But you're 100% right, it does reinforce that notion.

If that was the point, rather than every version of these articles at least in the beginning/headlines making it sound like Meta has done some horrible thing, I wouldn't moan about it. It's just really click-bait the way it's framed initially in most of the articles.

What can I say, I'm a Libra, and as much as think astrology is BS ... I do have a strong tendency towards fairness, even with entities I'm not a fan of, like Meta.

But yeah, as you say, that's a very good thing for people to rethink

[SheltieLover]

9. Absolutely!

[usonian]

4. Every internet provider is compelled to hand over data upon warrant. Period.

Some are refused, I hear.

So, assume that anything and everything that leaves your home is up for grabs (with a warrant and sometimes without … but that’s another story) unless it’s “end to end encrypted”

“End to end encrypted” means that only you and your collaborators have the encryption key, and the provider has no clue as to your content. They can’t crack it. Nobody can except with supercomputers working a very long time.

That’s the simple version if I have it right.

Apple was keeping an encryption key to your data, but with Advanced Encryption, they seem to be unable to hand over anything but basically uncrackable gibberish. This is new as of late 2022.
https://appleinsider.com/articles/22/12/13/apples-advanced-data-protection-feature-is-here---what-you-need-to-know

There are exceptions:
https://support.apple.com/guide/security/advanced-data-protection-for-icloud-sec973254c5f/web

Please note that regular email is always sent “in the clear”, unencrypted and rather easily gotten.

To securely message anyone I personally only would trust Signal Messenger, though there are others. It works on basically everything.

https://www.signal.org/

THE PROBLEM? People use Facebook, Google and other data mongers a whole damn lot.

[live love laugh]

2. Oh great! Nebraska controls her body either by forcing pregnancy or jail.

That’s fucked up.

[PortTack]

6. Women of child bearing age and sexuality active need to move away from the red states..period

Yes, I hear a lot of “some ppl can’t just up and move.” If we asked this poor woman, with what she’s facing now, should she have considered moving regardless, I imagine the answer would have been yes.

Even thou moving may be difficult and costly, one can always end up in a worse situation. I can’t think of a worse situation for her!