A Google search for a reproductive health clinic, an online order for abortion pills, a location ping at a doctor’s office, and a text message about the possibility of terminating a pregnancy could all become sources of evidence. People are constantly sharing data about their fertility online, privacy advocates say, even if they don’t realize it. Other Obvious Sources of Health Data include period tracking apps and digital record forms in hospitals.
“People shouldn’t be held accountable for doing everything perfectly, when they’re in a stressful situation, to protect our own privacy,” said India McKinney, director of federal affairs at the privacy advocacy organization Electronic Frontier Foundation. “Privacy is a fundamental human right and must be protected by laws and statutes.”
Here are the basic steps anyone can take to protect personal information when considering abortion.
Your biggest risk factor is other people. Many cases against people who have had abortions start with people being told to report them to law enforcement, according to Farah Diaz-Tello, senior counsel and legal director of If/When/How, a reproductive justice nonprofit. .
“The biggest vector of criminalization is the health system,” Díaz-Tello said. The group has studied cases against people who have had abortions since 2000 and has tracked how the process usually occurs.
When someone goes to a health provider with medical problems related to an abortion, medical professionals can report them to the police, who can then confiscate their phones or computers. With a device in hand, the police can watch directly through the browser and text messages.
Diaz-Tello recommends being judicious about the information you share in an emergency room or doctor’s office. A miscarriage and a self-managed abortion with pills will look identical to most health care providers and require the same treatment, she said.
Also limit who you tell in your own life, including friends or family. If you are experiencing intimate partner threats, follow these steps to protect your communications and devices.
Chat in a secure and encrypted messaging app
When discussing your situation, use private messaging apps that use encryption. Apple iMessage, WhatsApp, and Meta Signal are end-to-end encrypted by default, which means messages are hidden from everyone except the sender and receiver.
Signal may be the safest option. Apple holds the key to decrypting iMessages backed up using its iCloud service, and law enforcement may ask you to do so. WhatsApp, for its part, leaves room in its privacy policy to share data with Facebook’s parent company, Meta. Depending on what data you share, that could lead to privacy issues.
Keep in mind that someone with access to your physical device could see your messages, whether or not they are encrypted. Don’t turn your phone or laptop over to the police without a warrant, privacy experts advise, and turn off biometric authentication like Face or Touch ID if you’re worried someone will pressure or force you to unlock them. Make sure your phone, tablet, and computer require a passcode or password to use them. Avoid using portable health tracking devices while monitoring your health.
Browse the internet safely
There are two ways your browsing activity could put you at risk: someone seeing it on your device and someone getting it from tech or ad-tech companies, said Eric Rescorla, Firefox’s chief technology officer.
Always use private or incognito browsing mode on your browser to avoid leaving a trace on your own devices. When choosing a browser, choose Safari, Firefox, or Brave, which have strong privacy features. Make sure all options to prevent cross-site tracking are turned on, and instead of Google, use a search engine like DuckDuckGo or Brave.
To minimize what is recorded about your browsing, use a VPN or Apple iCloud Private Relay, which acts as a more secure VPN. Avoid using third party applications to perform searches. If you want an extra layer of protection, use Tor Browser, a tool for anonymous Internet use that masks both your identity and your location, Rescorla said.
If you use Google, make sure you’re signed out of your account and turned up the dials in all of your privacy settings. Confirm that the abortion clinic results are real and not fake “crisis pregnancy” centers. If it’s a Google ad, there should be a small line above the site name that says “Provides abortions” or “Does not provide abortions.” The National Abortion Federation has a list of providers examined on your site.
Turn off location sharing or leave your phone behind
Some apps collect your location during the day and night and share it with third parties, including data brokers, who sell that data to whoever wants to pay. To turn off location sharing on an Apple device, go to Settings → Privacy → Location Services and change the slider to gray. (Note that this will cause location-dependent apps like Uber or Maps to stop working.) On an Android device, go to Settings → Location and toggle the switch to “off”.
Unfortunately, turning off location sharing won’t stop your cell phone carrier from collecting your location. Jennifer Granick, cybersecurity and surveillance adviser for the American Civil Liberties Union, said a faraday bagwhich blocks electromagnetic fields, could help in cases where a person wants to keep their phone but avoid location tracking by service providers.
To really hide your location, the best thing to do is leave your phone at home or turn it off completely, McKinney said. You can also use a temporary “burner” phone. Don’t add any of your accounts, connect to your home WiFi or turn on Bluetooth, he added.
Maximize your privacy settings
To ensure that your phone or social networking sites collect as little data as possible, lock your privacy settings. You can find a list of the larger device and app options in our Privacy Reset Guide.
Avoid Period Tracking Apps
Trusting any app with sensitive health information is a risk, especially if it’s not covered by HIPAA requirements. Each period tracker app has different privacy practices, and understanding the nuances can be tricky. A password-protected spreadsheet or paper calendar will serve you best.
If you decide to remove your period-tracking app, consider submitting a data removal request as well, said Alan Butler, CEO and president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. Some companies only accept these requests from people in California due to the state’s privacy law, but others accept requests from anywhere.
“The power of the state and federal government to get data right now is incredibly broad,” Butler said. “We haven’t seen new limits on access to government data in decades, which means the laws … have gotten weaker as technology has evolved.”
Limit where you share health information
Your dentist and even your exercise instructor may give you forms asking if you are pregnant. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing, say so and save that conversation for a doctor you trust.
Registration software at your doctor’s office may have privacy holes, The Washington Post reported. A consent form from the registration software manufacturer Phreesia, for example, gives them permission to use your data for marketing. Select “no” on any data sharing message you see.
Put pressure on your health care providers and insurers about what they do with your information, like the date of your last period or your pregnancy status. Where is it recorded and stored, is it encrypted and how long do they keep it? Review each document you sign to see if you are giving up any rights to your information or if you are giving permission to share it with other parties.
Be aware of physical surveillance technology.
In some cases, law enforcement can extract data from license plate readers or facial recognition software systems that have been strategically installed along state lines, the ACLU’s Granick said. If you need reproductive services, you may want to consider taking alternative means of transportation instead of driving your own car, for example.
“People shouldn’t give up, even though this is hard and it seems like a lot,” Granick said. “People should take advantage of what they can do while pushing the powers that be to do more.”
Reference-www.washingtonpost.com