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Meredith Whittaker

This 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.

57 comments
Astrobach :breadified:

@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.

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.

Owl 🦉
I Installed threads in genymotion 👌
Erik Moeller

Absolutely infuriating case, thank you for bringing attention to it and relating it to the #E2EE debate.

Internet Rando

@eloquence

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!

#EFF #E2EE

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

@theothersimo

@Mer__edith

Sounds like the police needed the messages as evidences ... to charge them for that "crime".

GhostOnTheHalfShell

@Mer__edith Christ I hope they can get the hell out of that state

zeemeermin

@Mer__edith Home of the free, but not for thee.

Welcome to fascism America. This is what it looks like.

zeemeermin

@Mer__edith You need to discuss this shit in person, where no one will hear or see.

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)?

Eric Schultz

@smic Facebook provided the messages to police when subpoenaed.

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 jezebel.com/nebraska-teen-sent

Esther :mastodon: 🌱🐾🍋 #fcknzs

@Mer__edith it’s disgusting and a shame what happens overthere. 😔

Erik Jonker

@Mer__edith
The proposed amendment sounds like a bad joke...

Gondoliere

@Mer__edith 'i've got nothing to hide'...
there you go.

DELETED

@Mer__edith @deviantollam

100% agree but for the love of all that's holy, can we get ahead of the curve for once, and make sure the propagandists don't take the correct meaning of "end-to-end encryption" away.

#E2E means users manage their keys, not bullshit like the "Advanced Data Protection for iCloud", or even Signal, where your keys are managed for you, or where the software and algorithms are not 100% #libre #freeSoftware.

My previous rant on the subject:
cishuman.org/2023/02/17/why-th

@Mer__edith @deviantollam

100% agree but for the love of all that's holy, can we get ahead of the curve for once, and make sure the propagandists don't take the correct meaning of "end-to-end encryption" away.

#E2E means users manage their keys, not bullshit like the "Advanced Data Protection for iCloud", or even Signal, where your keys are managed for you, or where the software and algorithms are not 100% #libre #freeSoftware.

dexternemrod

@Mer__edith
This goes out to everybody who has nothing to hide ... yet!

binaryphile 🥥🌴✅🇺🇲

@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
Telegram is not E2E encrypted, unless you go on a "secret chat" which most people do not do. Even then, they use their own made crypto and have no PFS (unless you concede to their definition of PFS which is "we'll change the keys every 100 messages").

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: securemessagingapps.com/

binaryphile 🥥🌴✅🇺🇲

@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.

Jennifer Kayla | Theogrin 🦊

@Mer__edith

The powers that be, or at least their voices, like to cite the potential abuse of cryptographic tools, in particular how they can be used for crimes without any means for a paper trail to be discovered.

The truth is, however, the greater abuses occur systemically, put into motion by those self-same powers who are upset that they no longer have a monopoly on privacy, and the lapdogs willing to sell any information at all to the highest bidder. And those abuses are happening, they're not some hypothetical or theoretical state of being. Therefore, a solution is required.

This is also why #Signal are making plans to be on their way out of the UK. Recent legislation passing through Parliament brings with it the goal of making all communication accessible to the government -- no matter the human rights issues involved (which the Tories, as always, are salivating over).

@Mer__edith

The powers that be, or at least their voices, like to cite the potential abuse of cryptographic tools, in particular how they can be used for crimes without any means for a paper trail to be discovered.

The truth is, however, the greater abuses occur systemically, put into motion by those self-same powers who are upset that they no longer have a monopoly on privacy, and the lapdogs willing to sell any information at all to the highest bidder. And those abuses are happening, they're not...

DELETED

@Mer__edith ...but keep using Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, ...

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.
Ed Summers

@Mer__edith here's a gift link for anyone who wants to read this important story:
nytimes.com/2023/07/20/us/cele

It is really worrisome how the supercharged legibility provided by social media is continuing to fuse with law enforcement. They are evolving together in ways that are easy to underestimate until you become a subject of power. While E2EE is 💯 important, I think we also need to begin thinking creatively about ways to remove computation from parts of our lives.

@Mer__edith here's a gift link for anyone who wants to read this important story:
nytimes.com/2023/07/20/us/cele

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
My fucking god, of all places sharing that kind of things on facebook takes a special type of stupid.

Vefhtagn

@Mer__edith this is WHY we don't want META on the fediverse

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