U.S. Companies Don’t Much Want To Talk About Abortion Data Collection And Protection
from the pick-a-side dept
In response to the Supreme Court’s recent assault on female bodily autonomy, numerous U.S. corporations have issued statements stating they’ll be paying for employee abortion travel. You’re to ignore, apparently, that many of these same companies continue to throw millions of dollars at the politicians responsible for turning the Supreme Court into a dangerous, cruel, legal norm-trampling joke:
With abortion now or soon to be illegal in countless states, there’s newfound concern about the privacy issues we’ve talked about for years, like how user location data, period tracking data, or browsing data can all be used against women seeking abortions and those looking to aid them… by both the state and violent vigilantes (thanks to flimsy U.S. standards on who can buy said data and how it can be used).
Reporters that have tried to ask modern data-hoovering companies if they’ll do better job securing data to ensure it can’t be used against women, or if they’ll fight efforts from states hunting abortion seekers and aiders in and out of state, have been met with dead silence. Not even rote statements on how the safety of women is important, but dead silence:
Motherboard asked a long line of companies including Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, TikTok, AT&T, Uber, and Snapchat if they’d hand over user data to law enforcement and not a single one was willing to commit to protecting women’s data:
Motherboard asked if each will provide data in response to requests from law enforcement if the case concerns users seeking or providing abortions, or some other context in which the agency is investigating abortions. Motherboard also asked generally what each company is planning to protect user data in a post-Roe America.
None of the companies answered the questions. Representatives from Twitter and Snapchat replied to say they were looking into the request, but they did not provide a statement or other response.
To be fair, company legal departments haven’t finished doing the risk calculations of showing a backbone and upsetting campaign contributors and law enforcement. They’ve also got to weigh the incalculable looming harms awaiting countless women against any potential lost snoopvertising revenues, so there’s that.
As public pressure grows, ham-fisted state enforcement begins, and the dynamics of the Roe repeal become harder for them to ignore, several of these companies may find something vaguely resembling a backbone in time. But the initial lack of any clarity or courage whatsoever in the face of creeping authoritarianism (and a high court gone completely off the rails) doesn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence.
Filed Under: abortion, abortion clinics, location data, period apps, privacy, surveillance, telecom, tracking, vigilantes
Companies: amazon, at&t, facebook, snapchat, tiktok
Comments on “U.S. Companies Don’t Much Want To Talk About Abortion Data Collection And Protection”
Especially when representatives make statements like this:-
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Bunch together a group of people deliberately chosen for strong religious feelings, and you have a practical guarantee of dark morbidities expressed in crime, perversion, and insanity.
– H.P. Lovecraft
I think he was onto something…
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This ignorant troll will say anything to rile up her low-info voters. I don’t think she’s stupid enough to believe what she said is actually true, but she’s definitely stupid enough to not realize the harm caused by encouraging other idiots to think this way.
Welp, with this the US has involved several decades and it seems to be dead set in going back a century or two. Revoke the Constitution already if you are gonna treat it as toilet paper, guys.
It’s sad to see the nosedive the US is taking in many aspects since 2015 or so.
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Thinking about it, since 9/11 if you think about freedom.
Re: Re: Something I wrote when Dubya was in power.
I’ve got somethin’ to tell ya
I’ve got news for you
’S gonna kick Reuters into motion
Get ready ’cos it’s comin’ through
Hey now, hey now. Hear what I say now
TSA is moving into Heathrow
Hey now, hey now. Hear what I say now
They’ll be groping you
The Google car is comin’ and everybody’s jumpin’
Because the NSA boys don’t need no more new spy toys
Wheels of justice are turnin’ and Gitmo Bay is burnin’
But the Republican Party keeps pilin’ up the bodies
Original song: Vengabus by The Vengaboys.
We should wholeheartedly embrace the current availability of such data – and use it to track the friends and families of those politicians and justices who have supported these measures. I have no doubt in my mind that their ‘all life is sacred’ mantra is nothing more than that when the reality of a situation affects them personally – and when they inevitably behave hypocritically we should make sure that their transgressions are made clear for all to see.
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To fascists, hypocrisy is the point: The law must bind the “other” but protect the fascists. Feel free to point out their hypocrisy all you want, but doing so won’t change their minds—or the minds of their most ardent supporters.
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I think the OP’s point was that the Internet, and the data hoovering companies, are not respecters of what the tinpot fascists want or expect – and have the means to revoke their assumed protection.
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It can be revoked, sure, but that still won’t do much of anything to change the minds of fascists. They’ll either get better at opsec or deny any accusations as “fake news” from “the enemy of the people”.
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The goal of pointing out the raging hypocrisy isn’t to change the mind of the hypocrite or their supporters, as as you noted they likely don’t care, rather the point is to keep anyone who might have thought said hypocrites were arguing in good faith from falling for their lies and potentially adding to the number of supporters.
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Inevitable is never far away. We already know that most abortion-seeking occurs in the states and subcultures with the most restricive policies with respect to sex education and birth control.
The professionally political set and other wealthy or powerful true believers might avoid being caught out for a bit longer.
Yet again, big companies have shown that they can talk the talk, but are unwilling to walk the walk. And people who know me wonder why I’m far more cynical than other autistic people with my specific label. 😧
They just don't know what to expect.
Now there is going to come the reaction of the states. And they are swinging wildly. I’ve seen some interviews where it’s hard to believe they are not satirical. Like asking a lawmaker about no-exception-from-fertilization laws he helped put through “do you really think a child rape victim should be forced to carry the rapist’s child to term?” and getting the reply “we are very happy about our law”.
Or asking a Texan lawmaker about their tattle-on-women law and he says “now is the time to show our mothers our love and we just put $x mil into catering for their unborn childs” which sounds like “we” does not include women. They are just breeding cattle, lovingly treated.
So you have those lawmakers who are in power and are having their wet fantasies all over their populace.
And then you have the concurrence of “Justice” Thomas who says “ok folks, now gay marriage, sodomy [by which he likely means homosexual encounters] and contraception are on the chopping block next”. Of course Alito in his opinion wrote “abortion is nothing like anything else”, like all of them pinky-swore their allegiance to settled law.
But the whole bunch of them has clearly demonstrated that their lip services and fig leaves are just that, and they have been chosen because of that, and they could not contain their impatience to destroy the rights of Americans for little more than a year. And they have clearly indicated being on a rampage now. Abortion is just the eye of the hurricane.
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Sorry, got distracted. The keypoint is that companies have no idea right now what to expect from the states. And they don’t even have an idea now what to expect from the States. It may become infeasible to continue business from that country if you care about the private rights of individuals. Maybe it will be enough to leave a number of states to their gun and rape culture that considers women procreation hosts.
Maybe it won’t. They just don’t know what kind of attacks on their staff to expect where, and how resources might make a difference. So they don’t commit to defenses yet that may just end in a loss of credibility and power to effect changes.
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And then you have the concurrence of “Justice” Thomas who says “OK, folks, now gay marriage, sodomy [by which he likely means encounters of MSM] and contraception are on the chopping block next.”
FTFY. YW.
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And after that, the American Constitution.
Wake up, samurai, your rights are at stake.
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Actually, all our rights have already been taken away by the woke idealogues on this website. I can’t even speak freely anymore, and I’m quite sure my anti-trans rants have absolutely nothing to do with that.
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Forgot the sarc mark, I believe, but well done. Take your funny flag.
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You can speak freely here. Nobody has censored your comments! They’re all available for any and all to see.
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Not the ones that never made it through moderation. But then, I don’t believe that’s the real Hyman Rosen either. The last sentence rather gives it away.
"creeping authoritarianism"
Maybe started as creeping but seems to be accelerating like a dragster in some places.
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And established as law in…
Oh, just about the entire fucking world.
It’s a sad day when even Singapore has legal abortion.
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“The established science of human embryology shows that unborn children are living members of our species. They are human beings,” said MCCL Communications Director Paul Stark. “And human rights belong to all humans, no matter their age, size, or ability. No one should be excluded from the equal protection of the law. Unborn babies deserve respect and protection, and their mothers deserve support and love in the midst of the difficult circumstances they often face. These core ideas—science, human rights, justice, and love—form the foundation of the pro-life movement.”
“Abortion advocacy groups, and the politicians they support, have a very different agenda,” said Fischbach. “They favor unlimited abortion throughout pregnancy, even when babies feel excruciating pain, and they want it funded by taxpayers. In fact, these political leaders don’t even want to allow the American people to have a say. They think unelected judges should impose this extreme policy whether Americans like it or not.”
Sad, Karl, that you favor the brutal dismembering of human beings. This isn’t about bodily autonomy because an unborn child is a genetically-distinct and unique being, not simply a part of the mother’s body. Or do you really think the mother has four arms, four legs, two heads, and even both genders at the same time? Proximity does not mean being a part of something, and that is very simple logic. Just because you sit in your car doesn’t make you a part of it.
https://www.mccl.org/post/2017/12/20/the-unborn-is-a-human-being-what-science-tells-us-about-unborn-children
Basic embryology proves your stance wrong, and you should also know that it isn’t just people of faith who seek to preserve the lives of the unborn from people like you. Many, many secular people also advocate for the same. For example, in Minnesota, only 30% of the population supports abortion on demand, and that points to the real reason you and others don’t like the SC’s decision.
Because returning control of abortion laws to the people, who vastly oppose the practice, threatens your position as well as the abortion industry and the money it makes, which is what really drives their push for the practice. If you have any honesty at all, you’ll reflect on these things with an open mind that’s willing to be wrong. Any negative response proves you don’t have it.
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Yes or no: Do you believe the law should prosecute any pregnant person who undergoes an abortion or suffers a miscarriage after the moment of conception?
Re: Yeah right.
The GOP will try to outlaw abortion in a national ban once they take control of congress. Mark my words.
And if you were really “pro-life” you would support post-natal humans. You would also support contraception. But what’s likely is that you don’t. Also, do you know what an ectopic pregnancy is? Neither the embryo nor the child-bearer could survive one. Yet this will be outlawed, leaving child-bearing people to die.
You’re no more “pro-life” than Pol Pot.
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There are those trying to record all the innocent victims of the evil, cold-blooded murder that happens at abortion clinics. Here’s one such list: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Victims_of_anti-abortion_violence_in_the_United_States
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Dr. George Tiller and Dr. Barnard Slepian come to mind.
Re: Re: Re:2 Got name wrong
*Barnett Slepian
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That’s not even an accurate title of that list. It should be Victims of anti-reproductive rights violence in the US.
Re: 30%
Planned Parenthood says the opposite>
https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/planned-parenthood-minnesota-advocate/blog/polling-data-shows-minnesotans-support-abortion-and-more-abortion-protections
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I don’t know, but I trust where the AC to whom you replied sourced it, which is from his butt.
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In the interests of accuracy, I must protest your assertion that AC sourced data “from his butt.” Let the record show that said data was in fact pulled from the rectum of John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. 😉
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… lied nobody possessing any capacity for rational independent thought, ever.
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“It doesn’t matter when life begins.
It doesn’t matter whether a fetus is a human being or not.
That entire argument is a red herring, a distraction, a subjective and unwinnable argument that could not matter less.
It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about a fertilized egg, or a fetus, or a baby, or a five year old, or a Nobel Prize winning paediatric oncologist.
NOBODY has the right to use your body against your will, even to save their life, or the life another person.
That’s it.
That’s the argument.
You cannot be forced to donate blood, or marrow, or organs, even though thousands die every year, on waiting lists.
They cannot even harvest your organs after your death without your explicit, written, pre-mortem permission.
Denying women the right to abortion means we have less body autonomy than a corpse.”
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Not yet, anyway.
Gonna need to engineer a war for that. And the Dems gassed.
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You should read every one of the posts at this link, murderer.
https://imgur.com/gallery/k265hUg
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I read all the images and all the comments on that page.
I want to cry.
Many of those stories are horrifying, especially those where it’s mentioned that someone tried to pull the “oh it’s God’s plan” card – there’s even one where the girl’s mother was all “yes I know my husband raped our daughter and got her pregnant, but it’s God’s plan“. SERIOUSLY?!
I… I got nothing else. I feel drained after having read all that.
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And buried in amongst all those horrifying tales, the one “by choice” (before I stopped) appears to be the pro-life protester whom came in on the quiet, then later continued to the protest – I mean, WTF.
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Yeah, that pretty much demonstrates the hypocrisy (or one of the hypocrisies, at least) of the “pro-life” crowd – they’re against abortions unless a pregnancy inconveniences them in some way, in which case they’ll get an abortion. “Abortions available for me, but not for thee.”
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I… was not prepared to read this. It’s so goddamn sad, frustrating, enraging. The “pro-life” turd would rather inflict great suffering, death and disabilities on living, fully developed women, girls, kids than terminating a process where there’s no notion of self. I’m devastated. Even then, thank you for this, it makes me even more willing to do what I can to fight this idiocy.
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Unborn babies deserve respect and protection, and their mothers deserve support and love in the midst of the difficult circumstances they often face.
If a person has a tapeworm, we don’t legislatively deny them access to anthelmintic drugs. Why would we legislatively deny a pregnant person access to abortion just because their parasite contains half of their DNA?
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Because fertilization forms a unique genetic identity that constitutes a human being if left in the womb until viable.
It’s the same reason you are only allowed to kill one of identical twins (kids or grownups). Killing both would be murder. Killing one is fine as human identity is equivalent to genetic identity, and that is not disturbed by killing one identical twin.
It’s science. Well, the kind of science that the pro-lifers cite as supporting their argument.
In contrast, a pregnant woman is not a person but a host, at least until the vulva burster emerges and loses its precious state of unborn and its right to attention by “conservative” lawmakers.
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I actually had to read your entire comment twice for it not to fall victim to Poe’s Law. It’s a good job I’m not like some of the regulars here, who react to what someone’s said without taking context into account.
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Wait until people start claiming them as dependents, from the moment of conception.
When ‘who’s paying for this’ plays out, we’ll see how Christian you all are.
Any negative response proves you don’t have it.
You were saying something about having an ‘open mind?’
Seriously, asshole?
This is why I have no tolerance for you people. You take being a fucking hypocrite to another level.
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I hope you are cursed with a pregnancy where carrying the fetus to term means you’ll both die. Let’s see then what you think about abortions and how flexible you actually are in your “moral” superiority.
Now fuck off you stupid cow.
Re: Get the fuck outta here with that weaksauce
“https://www.mccl.org/”
Yeah not gonna trust these not jobs to wash my car much less do “scientific research”. Try again without using some religious nutjobs as a source, pardner.
“The established science ..."
Quote being from completely unbiased source and backed up by references.
/S
Yeah right.
The GOP will try to outlaw abortion in a national ban once they take control of congress. Mark my words.
And if you were really “pro-life” you would support post-natal humans. You would also support contraception. But what’s likely is that you don’t. Also, do you know what an ectopic pregnancy is? Neither the embryo nor the child-bearer could survive one. Yet this will be outlawed, leaving child-bearing people to die.
You’re no more “pro-life” than Pol Pot.
Re: Ooops.
This was meant for the anonymous coward up above in the thread. You’re cool, Karl.
It was never about the babies.
It was about making sure there is an underclass they can lord over.
It was about making sure there were people who would never think of aspiring to anything more than working for them.
It was about breaking spirits.
It was about lifting themselves up, by shoving others down.
If it had been about the babies, there would be assistance.
If it was about the babies, we wouldn’t have such a high maternal death rate.
If it was about the babies, WIC would be for all women & children.
But hey at least now the coffers of unwanted children will be brimming full for those unable to have a child & that really is the most important thing here. Ignore the thousands who will remain in care for the rest of their lives (which sometimes isn’t that long as they keep losing track of these super important babies once they are born).
Don’t like abortion, don’t fucking have one.
Stop pretending that you have the right to judge another human being for their decisions.
In the soon to be immortal words of Sarah Huckabee…
We’ll make sure our children are as safe in the womb as they are in school.
Facts?
That’s absolute shite and if you actually read the texts you’d realise that.
There is no ban here. There is no constitutional or federal protection of a right to abortion. So the states can set their own rules.
It’s up to the federal lawmakers to decide if they wish to do what they should have done years ago! Amend the constitution! Or pass a law.
Until then the state has the right to legislate as it deems fit.
Honestly I think the only solution is to make abortion and all sexual care a right via amendment as any law for or against will be fought by the opposition in court.
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Honestly I think the only solution is to make abortion and all sexual care a right via amendment…
It already is. Text of the Fourth Amendment:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
What is forced pregnancy but an unreasonable seizure of the body of a person with a uterus?
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Personally I think liberty is more to the point. However as long as religious brainwashing continues the premise of “life” gets in the way.
Clearly without explicit statement, this will never be settled. So, settle it! That’s what congress is supposed to be doing. Making laws.
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*whooosh*
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… said nobody who has ever demonstrated any capacity for rational independent thought, ever.