What A Day - Protecting Your Data In A Post-Roe World

Episode Date: August 23, 2022

A teenager and her mother are facing criminal charges for allegedly violating Nebraska's abortion ban, and police used their Facebook direct messages as evidence to charge them. Sara Morrison, senior reporter for Vox's Recode, tells us how easy it is for law enforcement to obtain your personal data from the internet and use it against you — even when it comes to making a health care decision like abortion.And in headlines: Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan was charged under that country's anti-terrorism laws, nearly 4,500 school staffers in Columbus, Ohio went on strike, and Dr. Anthony Fauci announced he will officially step down from public service in December.Show Notes:Electronic Frontier Foundation: Security and Privacy Tips for People Seeking An Abortion https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/06/security-and-privacy-tips-people-seeking-abortionVox: “Should I delete my period app? And other post-Roe privacy questions.” – https://www.vox.com/recode/2022/7/6/23196809/period-apps-roe-dobbs-data-privacy-abortionVox: “What police could find out about your illegal abortion” – https://www.vox.com/recode/23059057/privacy-abortion-phone-data-roeVote Save America: Fuck Bans Action Plan – https://votesaveamerica.com/roe/Crooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffeeFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whataday/For a transcript of this episode, please visit  crooked.com/whataday

It is Tuesday, August 23rd. I'm Josie Duffy Rice. And I'm Priyanka Arabindi. And this is What A Day, the podcast that is a safe space to stay away from spoilers for HBO's House of the Dragon. This is also a safe space for Game of Thrones spoilers because I never watch that show. Watch it all in a month. Do I remember any of it?

Not at all. A lot of people die. There was like a red thing. Weird show. Weird show watched that show. Watched it all in a month. Do I remember any of it? Not at all. A lot of people died. There was like a red thing. Weird show. Weird show. Weird show. On today's show, Dr. Anthony Fauci is calling it a career. Plus, the Justice Department is opening a civil rights probe

into a police beating in Arkansas. But first, summer is ending and many college students are returning to campus. Some will head back to class in states that now ban abortion with very few exceptions. Many students who recently spoke to the Associated Press said that they're worried about what they might have to do if they unexpectedly get pregnant. As a result, they said that they plan on being much more cautious and using birth control. And they're also looking at their options if that doesn't work, even if it means leaving the state to get abortion care. So with access to the procedure questionable, many will likely turn to the internet for help. But there's a story out of Nebraska that speaks

to how that path could be dangerous for folks seeking an abortion in states where the procedure is banned or heavily restricted. Yeah. So a couple of weeks back, we talked about how a teenager and her mom are currently awaiting a criminal trial for allegedly violating their state's abortion ban. Police had been investigating this teenager since late April when she told police that she had a stillbirth when she was 23 weeks pregnant. In Nebraska, abortion is illegal after 20 weeks, and it has been for over a decade. Authorities began investigating her after getting a tip from one of the teenager's friends. friends, I'm doing the quote marks. Yeah, big air quotes on that. Yeah, big air quotes, who said they saw her take an abortion pill around that time. Then in June, police served Metta with a search warrant to get her direct messages on Facebook.

Metta complied and found a conversation between her and her mother. Police say that in that conversation, the mother explained how to take abortion pills around the time that the stillbirth was reported. So now that teenager faces charges for allegedly concealing a death and illegally disposing of human remains, and her mom has been charged alongside her for obtaining the pills that she allegedly used to induce a miscarriage. So now Meta, which is Facebook's parent company, released a statement earlier this month saying that the search warrant didn't mention abortion at all, just that Nebraska

police were investigating the alleged illegal mishandling of a stillborn infant. But obviously, this story is incredibly chilling, you know, as people who use the internet speaking to what I presume are several more people who use the internet. And data privacy advocates have warned that this sort of scenario could become more common in a post-Roe world. Even though the teenager in this case allegedly had an illegal abortion before the Supreme Court decision, her case has major implications nationwide, especially for people living in states with newly enacted abortion bans. So we spoke with reporter Sarah Morrison from Recode, who we've had on the show before, about how easy it is for law enforcement to obtain your personal online data and to use it against you, even when it comes to making a health care decision like getting an

abortion. It's as easy as getting a warrant. If you're suspected of doing something illegal and they have cause that they can get evidence of that from your Facebook messages or whatever else, even in the affidavit for this, the officer said, it is based on my knowledge and experience that people who engage in criminal actions often post about them on social media. It's easy to do, and it's done probably quite frequently at this point. And, you know, the police know that these are rich sources of evidence. Yeah. So in this case, you know, it was a friend of the daughter's,

I mean, maybe a quote-unquote friend doesn't really sound like a great one who informed law enforcement of this situation. thing happening where it was even maybe the doctor or nurse who went to the police. I mean, in this particular instance, though, it wasn't like the police just went to Facebook and got this. That's not where the investigation started. It was just part of it. Yeah, the doctor thing is really scary. Yeah. This idea that health care professionals, you know, you don't know who you can trust. I mean, again, if that the Department of Health

and Human Services has kind of issued some new guidance because of the decision, but you know, the health privacy laws don't necessarily apply if your medical provider believes that there's a crime involved. They can go to the police about that. The warrant in this case was issued

before Roe was overturned, like you mentioned, and shortly after the SCOTUS decision, Meta and other social media companies said that they would like make efforts to keep user data safe, etc, etc. But I think this like underscores this very sobering reality online, like communicating about what should be a basic health care procedure is now very risky. And so aside from changing their own policies, like what should they be doing to protect us? This particular situation is a little different because according to Meta, they didn't even realize they were being asked for evidence of an illegal abortion. This isn't exactly a thing where like this evil company gave away all this information that they didn't have to. They had to give it away. They didn't realize it was about an illegal abortion. But that said, like, even if it was, if, you know, police have a court

order and that information is there for them to get, they're going to likely have to give it away. I think I've seen other companies sort of say, well, we're not going to keep information about location data about certain places where abortions might happen, that that's the compromise we'll make. Like, they're still collecting that information. So I think if Facebook, you know, automatically encrypted the messages, or if they just didn't collect that data in the first place, there just wouldn't have been anything there for the police to get from Facebook, you know, in the first place. These companies are incentivized to collect this data, incentivized a lot. They're not going to stop if they don't absolutely have to, which they don't. They'll give in a little and say, well, we won't collect this data or we'll automatically

erase it after we collect it. There's still a lot of easy ways to gain that. Can you remind us, on the other hand, you know, what legislation, if any, is in the works to kind of protect user data from being used in criminal investigations like this? I mean, there's always legislation in the works, but, you know, it kind of just stays there. I think Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon's been trying to get a law passed that says the police can't buy location data and sort of buy their way around the Fourth Amendment, which they do now because they can. There was a My Body, My Data Act by Representative Sarah Jacobs, which would make, I think, the collection of certain kinds of like health data, reproductive data protected. There's also just privacy laws in general that certain people have been trying to push forward

that would maybe limit or give us more control over all of the data, not just health data, not just reproductive data that's collected. Some of these things have gone further than others. Most of them have gone not very far at all. And we're still waiting for any of them to happen. I've been covering like this data privacy for two and a half years.

And I started the beat being like, obviously a law will be passed soon because clearly it's an issue. It's still nothing. It's not being passed, right, because tech stands to gain a ton of money from data collection. Is that the reason that we're not more careful about this? I think tech companies actually do want there to be a law that passes because they'd rather have there be a federal one than what's happening right now, which is a bunch of states passing them. It's a lot easier to just deal with one than, you know, 50. They also want the law that is passed to be one that is good for them. It's my understanding that the biggest problem is that you have like generally Republicans have a

couple of things that they want to happen. Democrats have a couple of things that they want to happen and they just haven't quite been able to like resolve those. We sort of talked about this before, but with all of this being said, it sounds like it is up to us to safeguard our privacy online. So what can people do to protect themselves? I mean, this is really tricky because there is an entire ecosystem and apparatus that is built on collecting your data. There are a lot of things you can do, I think, to minimize it.

I don't ever want to say these things will definitely do what you want them to because it seems like these companies always find a way around some of these things. That said, if you're direct messaging somebody on Facebook about a crime, I would A, not do that, but B, encrypt your messages so that, again, if the police want to get that data, they can't get it from Facebook. They might be able to get it from your specific device, but at least that data is in your custody and you have some control over it. Don't carry your phone with you. Your phone is just a massive source of all kinds of data that gets sent out even when you don't think or don't know that it does.

So the stuff where like location data gets sent to, say, Google or all these data brokers, you have to, I guess, measure what's the most, I guess, convenient or livable situation for you with your paranoia about being watched or tracked. I think a lot of people have different thresholds for what that should be. We'll link to this story, Sarah's work, and advice about keeping your data safe in our show notes. But that is the latest for now. We'll be back after some ads. Join Josie Tota, Alicia Pasquale-Pena, and Yasmeen Hamidi, three fearless young actresses, disruptors, and best friends as they navigate the issues that affect their lives on Crooked's newest podcast, Dare We Say. From hookup culture and social media to structural racism and LGBTQ plus rights, they leave no stone unturned and no DM on red when

it comes to discussing what matters. We promise you that you do not want to miss the show. So grab your kombucha, your iced coffee, and your 17 other beverages, Coca-Cola for me, and catch a new episode of Dare We Say every Thursday wherever you get your podcasts. Let's get to some headlines. State police in Arkansas are investigating three law enforcement officers who were captured on video badly beating a restrained man on Sunday. They include two sheriff's deputies who have since been suspended from active duty and a police officer who is on administrative leave. If you are keeping track, all three of those law enforcement officers are currently getting paid their full salary. The video was taken by a bystander and shared extensively on social media.

And it goes without saying that it is really, really hard to watch. It shows one officer repeatedly punching the man and even throwing his head against the pavement. Later, another officer appears to knee the man in the back as he's pinned to the ground. This all happened in the town of Mulberry, which is about 140 miles from Little Rock. Police, the same police, said that 27-year-old Randall Worchester of South Carolina allegedly threatened a convenience store worker. When officers confronted him, he pushed one of them to the ground and punched him.

Worchester was arrested and then taken to the hospital and later sent to jail. He is accused, among other things, of making those threats, resisting arrest, and also faces assault charges. You know who doesn't face assault charges at this moment, Priyanka? Are these cops? Or the three cops that beat him.

Of course. It's funny how that works. Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said Monday the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division will conduct their own investigations. Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan was charged with terrorism yesterday following a speech to his supporters last Saturday during that address he accused police of arresting and torturing his close aide and vowed to sue them

in response to that authorities dialed up their reaction to the max and said that he threatened officials in a way that violated the country's anti-terrorism law Khan is expected to go to court on Thursday to try and get these charges dismissed. He was ousted in a no-confidence vote last April, and he's been working to get back into office ever since. This doesn't really seem like that is helping that case, sadly. If you're ousted in a no-confidence vote, I don't know that working to get back into office is your best move.

This is really going to work out for you. Over in Columbus, Ohio yesterday, nearly 4,500 school staffers hit the picket lines just days before the start of the new year. Their union represents teachers, librarians, nurses, and more. And on Sunday night, they rejected the district's last and final contract offer. The union had been bargaining for more than just pay, pushed for things like smaller class sizes, as well as better maintained buildings. Here's union spokesperson Regina Fuentes talking to local TV station WCMH. We do actually have to deal with vermin almost on a daily basis. You flick on a light.

You're talking mice? I'm talking mice. I'm talking bugs. I'm talking water dripping from the ceilings. It's a true, real problem. We're not making this up. I just feel like it should be a pretty basic that your kids' teachers who are responsible for their education should not have to, like,

see mice and roaches running around. Truly. The Columbus School District serves about 47,000 students who are supposed to start in-person classes tomorrow. But if the strike continues, then kids will lose a valuable opportunity to show off their brand new outfits because that first day will be remote and online. They'll be fine. They'll be fine.

They don't even know what real life is anymore. The Fauci gang is in mourning today following the announcement that Dr. Anthony Fauci will step down in December. As the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases during the pandemic, we always forget about allergies. It's always the infectious diseases. But Dr. Fauci has given us some sanity throughout a thoroughly insane time while also providing much needed visibility for short kings. Separate from COVID, Fauci served for 38 years and advised seven presidents. Now he's saying he's ready to kick back and work on his memoir, which may reveal which piping hot drink scorched his vocal cords

and gave him his trademark rasp. Fauci also said he'd spend time traveling and encouraging people to enter government service. You know, one of those sounds like a little more of a fun activity than the others. But I'm sure he can like send some tweets while he's doing travel and check off both boxes. I would also like to retire. So, you know, if anybody out there wants to make that happen, I am down.

Not that I don't love what a day. I'm just saying generally. I would like to do this as a volunteer project, okay? Yeah, but one of those volunteer projects where that woman from the show yesterday was like getting paid a lot of money.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. The kind where you get paid $163,000 a year. Yeah. The only company that understands the magic of movie theaters better than Nicole Kidman

MoviePass is big news finally coming back. It's true. Potentially great news. Potentially. Okay, so between 2017 and 2019, MoviePass offered a $10 a month subscription

that let customers see an unlimited number of movies, allowing some fans of cinema and high art to experience Paddington 2 on loop. Incredible. Paddington 2 is supposed to be a really good movie. Fantastic film. That deal isn't returning because there was virtually no way it could be profitable. Turns out movies cost cost a lot of money gotta sell a lot of popcorn to make up for that

yeah but starting labor day movie pass will relaunch in a tiered version which gives users credits to see a certain number of movies for either 10 20 or 30 monthly partly depending on where you live how much money this will save isD. We'll most definitely never return to the days of tickets that, when you crunch the numbers, cost less than the change you'd find under any row of chairs at the movie theater. People interested in MoviePass 2 can sign up for its waitlist this Thursday. I am just honestly grateful to have lived through the time that MoviePass was the open fire hydrant feeling.

Three movies everywhere. It was an incredible time. MoviePass 2 is going to hydrant spewing three movies everywhere. It was an incredible time. MoviePass 2 is going to be great. I hope so. Georgia's Herschel Walker has now demonstrated his willingness to stand up to 1,000-year-old plants. Criticizing President Biden's investment in fighting climate change through the Inflation Reduction Act, the Republican Senate candidate said on Sunday, quote,

They continue to try to fool you that they are helping you out, but they're not because a lot of money, it's going to trees. Don't we have enough trees around here? Fighting words if you're running against the Lorax, but many observers were confused by Walker's comments. Yesterday, he doubled down on Twitter, noting that he was against the IRA's allocation of $1.5 billion to the U.S. Forest Service's Urban and Community Forestry Program. So you can maybe forgive Walker for making a comment that sounds insane on its face, but ultimately reflects the views of pretty much every elected Republican. They are all anti-tree. Walker's war on foliage is interesting in light of

the recent tension brewing between Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. After McConnell subtly nagged the current slate of Republican Senate candidates last week, Trump spoke up in their defense on his website Truth Social, posting on Saturday that McConnell was a, quote, broken down hack with a, quote, crazy wife. That last part felt a little unnecessary. Presumably, Trump would stand by Walker's statements and maybe note that like windmills, trees kill birds. If you're listening to this and you live in Georgia or care about any of this, you should push this man to do a debate

because he will not do a debate. And if he did a debate against Warnock. It would be wild. I thought you were just saying push this man. I was like, Josie, he's so confident to be assaulted. No, no, no. I mean, he's a former football player. You can't even push him. That's not gonna work. Yeah, he could saying push this man. I was like, Josie, he's so confident to be assaulted on this podcast. He's a former football player. You can't even push him.

That's not going to work. Yeah, he can definitely push you back. And a final Trump update. The New York Times is reporting that the former president had a whopping 300 classified documents with him at Mar-a-Lago, possibly more printed pages than he has read in his entire life. Definitely more printed pages than he's ever read in his entire life. The first set of 150 documents was seized in January.

Then the espionage papers, volume two, were collected by the FBI earlier this month. These are the first reports we've heard of the total volume of classified material Trump was storing at his house.

I hesitate to say that I feel bad for the guy, but it's almost a little wild that like these are papers he almost certainly has never read in his life because he is like not capable of reading anything more than 160 characters. He's getting clam with this stuff and he's probably thinking to himself like, was it even worth it? Like I've never even seen these things.

Right, right. And those are the headlines. One more thing before we go, the hosts of Imani State of Mind, Dr. Imani Walker and Meg Scoop Thomas are taking a deeper look at what it takes to make friendships last and what role they play in your mental health. I love this. Me too. This is really great. The ladies are also diving into the many types of relationships and the emotions that come out of them. From your spouse to your parents to grief and anxiety, Imani State of Mind is the show to talk about it all. Listen to new episodes of Imani State of Mind every Friday, wherever you get your podcasts. That is all for today.

If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, count the classified documents you have in your home, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just the terms and conditions of MoviePass 2, like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. I'm Josie Duffy Rice. And stand up for trees. They need it. They need it. They're under assault at this moment. Yeah. Herschel Walker says we have too many trees. Something that nobody has literally ever said.

What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Jazzy Marine and Raven Yamamoto are our associate producers. Our head writer is John Milstein and our executive producers are Lita Martinez and Leo Duran. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kshaka.