Police are using cell phone messages, searches, and calendar data apps related to abortions to prosecute women. Web engines, like Google, know a lot about the user: websites they visit, their location, and what they watch online. If law enforcement uses this information to investigate the suspect, it could determine the outcome of the case.
A situation where search history was used to prosecute someone was when a woman named Latice Fisher was found with her dead baby in a toilet. Investigators looked through her phone and her search history, discovering that Fisher had searched for how to buy an abortion pill online.
If an abortion is made in a state where it is banned, charges could be a $1,000 to $10,000 fine and 12 months to a lifetime in prison. Each punishment varies in each state. Doctors could be fined or have their medical license taken away.
No matter how big or popular an app or web engine is, if law enforcement demands the information, it will be shared.
For example, Google’s privacy policy states: “We will share personal information outside of Google if we have a good-faith belief that access, use, preservation, or disclosure of the information is reasonably necessary to meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request.”
In June, Roe v. Wade, a legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court wrote that the restriction of state abortion is unconstitutional, was overturned. Now, it is up to the states to decide whether abortion is allowed or banned.
Currently, nearly half the country has banned abortion. 19 states have trigger banned (trigger ban: ban takes effect immediately) abortion, in 21 states abortion is legal and likely protected, and the 10 states might ban abortion.
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin have either banned or will ban abortion.
One solution to digital surveillance is to delete any data you have on websites. Despite privacy policies, some apps send information to third parties.
Menstrual cycle and tracking apps are the main concern, and many women do not want their private information being part of an investigation.
Instead, you can use a calendar and mark the days, or write down the dates on paper.
Sources: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/24/abortion-state-laws-criminalization-roe/
https://www.britannica.com/event/Roe-v-Wade
https://www.vox.com/recode/2022/7/6/23196809/period-apps-roe-dobbs-data-privacy-abortion
https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1656875850946x921715788385584600/Police%20used%20texts%2C%20web%20searches%20for%20abortion%20to%20prosecute%20women%20-%20The%20Washington%20Post.pdf
A situation where search history was used to prosecute someone was when a woman named Latice Fisher was found with her dead baby in a toilet. Investigators looked through her phone and her search history, discovering that Fisher had searched for how to buy an abortion pill online.
If an abortion is made in a state where it is banned, charges could be a $1,000 to $10,000 fine and 12 months to a lifetime in prison. Each punishment varies in each state. Doctors could be fined or have their medical license taken away.
No matter how big or popular an app or web engine is, if law enforcement demands the information, it will be shared.
For example, Google’s privacy policy states: “We will share personal information outside of Google if we have a good-faith belief that access, use, preservation, or disclosure of the information is reasonably necessary to meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request.”
In June, Roe v. Wade, a legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court wrote that the restriction of state abortion is unconstitutional, was overturned. Now, it is up to the states to decide whether abortion is allowed or banned.
Currently, nearly half the country has banned abortion. 19 states have trigger banned (trigger ban: ban takes effect immediately) abortion, in 21 states abortion is legal and likely protected, and the 10 states might ban abortion.
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin have either banned or will ban abortion.
One solution to digital surveillance is to delete any data you have on websites. Despite privacy policies, some apps send information to third parties.
Menstrual cycle and tracking apps are the main concern, and many women do not want their private information being part of an investigation.
Instead, you can use a calendar and mark the days, or write down the dates on paper.
Sources: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/24/abortion-state-laws-criminalization-roe/
https://www.britannica.com/event/Roe-v-Wade
https://www.vox.com/recode/2022/7/6/23196809/period-apps-roe-dobbs-data-privacy-abortion
https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1656875850946x921715788385584600/Police%20used%20texts%2C%20web%20searches%20for%20abortion%20to%20prosecute%20women%20-%20The%20Washington%20Post.pdf
