Gregory's ServerThis is the real, human cost of mass surveillance of everyone's private digital communications.
If we actually care about keeping people safe, we need more end-to-end encryption not less.
Meredith Whittaker
57 comments
radio
@rorystarr @Mer__edith The only way to use their shit is to have a separate machine, and run the browser inside a VM, then regularly flush the garbage from it. 
Erik Moeller
Absolutely infuriating case, thank you for bringing attention to it and relating it to the #E2EE debate. 
Internet Rando
Y'all heard of the @eff right? Donate more! I don't know another organization that could do more to help. If you do, donate to them, too! 
Jared White
@Mer__edith Sickening. Not only will she have to endure the trauma of being imprisoned, she'll have a record when she gets out. And of course the privacy angle is truly scary.
Lotus
@jaredwhite Are you aware the baby was in the 3rd trimester? I'm pro-choice but IMO that's too late.
Lotus
@jaredwhite Those are some issues I had no idea of, will look into it more. Thanks for sharing. 
Matteꙮ Italia
@LotusHopper @jaredwhite yeah I don't think that a 28 weeks elective abortion such as this is legal in any part of the world; I don't know about the specific case, however this situation is often the consequence of having obstacles put on the way to safe abortion access — time inevitably slips by until it's too late.
S.K.Misra
@Mer__edith ONLY money matters for all.These giants earn millions/billions with such traits.🥺🥺 
Riquiñez :cine_disney_stich:
@Mer__edith Agree. But maybe we need less fascists in the governments also... 
arceuthobium
@Mer__edith while your point still stands, there was no surveillance involved, the police were tipped off by a neighbor. 
dexternemrod :qubes:
Sounds like the police needed the messages as evidences ... to charge them for that "crime". 
zeemeermin
@Mer__edith Home of the free, but not for thee. Welcome to fascism America. This is what it looks like.
Sebastian Michaelsen
@Mer__edith Did Facebook give the messages to the police or did the police get hold of one of the two phones (in which case E2E would not have helped)? 
It's still still me (she/they)
@smic @Mer__edith the police saw her check her FB app during questioning to determine the date, and then subpoenaed FB per Jezebel https://jezebel.com/nebraska-teen-sentenced-to-90-days-in-jail-for-self-man-1850656813 
binaryphile :clippy:
@Mer__edith I encourage anyone reading this who is concerned for their privacy to begin using to a reputable service such as Signal and encourage your friends. There are a handful of other trustworthy ones, but I can only recommend Signal because that is the only one I've used, and I believe it to be the best for my purposes based on my research. (edit: removed my poor recollection about Telegram. Not recommended.) 
Arik
@binaryphile @Mer__edith Even Meta's Whatsapp is better than this, you leak all your Metadata but at least the conversations are E2E encrypted with the signal protocol. 
Health Is Wealth
@binaryphile @Mer__edith I use Signal and Session, depending who I'm talking to. Unfortunately Signal doesn't let you sign up anonymously (I don't know if this has changed). This has personally annoyed me because some of my contacts who I'm happy to just use text message with now know I use Signal and have contacted me on there when I've not wanted to use it with them. This following comparison chart is quite helpful in understanding the differences in different apps: https://www.securemessagingapps.com/
binaryphile :clippy:
@healthiswealth @Mer__edith Thanks, I removed the Telegram mention and boosted this. Unfortunately I can't endorse any Meta product due to who they have shown themselves to be. I don't recommend that anyone use their products.
cloq
@Mer__edith@mastodon.world haha "private" facebook messages. i get what its trying to say but thats far from reality 
💠 Dave No One 💠
@Mer__edith Also a proof for why #E2EE is for the people, but not in the interest of law enforcement, secret services and whoever else wants to spy on people. How could #BirthControl police know that you did something forbidden when they can't read your "private" messages. 
IzzyOnDroid ✅
@Mer__edith Also remember that "private Facebook messages" is a contradiction in terms. So: Yes, that surveillance must be stopped. But we should not support "services" which support surveillance themselves, and even abuse our data for other purposes. Choose wisely what details you provide where is another lesson we can learn from this sad story. 
Jeroen van Bergen
@Mer__edith “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”… This is how young lives are truly destroyed. 
Catweazle
@Mer__edith, it is outrageous in several aspects, first this anachronistic legislation and the stupidity of posting this precisely on Facebook. Private Facebook message is an oxymoron by definition, everyone with more than 2 neurons should know this. It was probably Facebook itself that informed the authorities. 
Roland Häder
@Mer__edith No, nope. You only work only on the symptom, not the cause. The cause is, no protection (condom) was maybe used. Or her boyfriend/husband cannot earn enough money (due to bad politics) to sustain his new family. This was possible many years ago, even going on holiday (with your kids) once per year. Not today anymore.
It's still still me (she/they)
@Mer__edith this seems like a great place to post the EFF's tips for people seeking abortion https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/06/security-and-privacy-tips-people-seeking-abortion
Melissa BearTrix 🏳️⚧️
@Mer__edith USA you are broken ... This poor lady ... Hugz for her Hugz & xXx  
maddie (:goodfortrout:) :QueerCat: :verifiedtrans:
@Mer__edith sure, you may have "nothing to hide", but these people do, and therefore we need less surveillance.
Trash Panda
@Mer__edith@mastodon.world |
@Mer__edith
Also, a reminder for everyone the many ways that Meta and their properties are not to be trusted.
EDIT: Let me add that Mastodon is not encrypted either--including DM's. It is upfront and open about that fact and you should not use social media for any sensitive exchanges.