Keep Your Abortion Private & Secure
We’re happy you’re here to learn more about digital security & abortion!

These are possible concerns you might have:

Seeing advertisements related to pregnancy/abortion

1. Seeing advertisements related to pregnancy/abortion

2. Tech companies like Facebook and Google storing information about your pregnancy/abortion
The problem: While browsing the internet and using our phones feels private, many companies actually watch what we do online and use our phones to track where we go. All of these companies — Google, Facebook, Amazon, your cell phone service provider, your internet provider, any app with access to your location data — keep records of what we do. These records are not only used for advertising, but can also be bought by governments and handed over to the police if the company gets a warrant.

3. That the person who pays your phone bill can see your texts

4. https://digitaldefensefund.org/ddf-g...history</span>

The problem: While browsing the internet and using our phones feels private, many companies actually watch what we do online and use our phones to track where we go. All of these companies — Google, Facebook, Amazon, your cell phone service provider, your internet provider, any app with access to your location data — keep records of what we do. These records are not only used for advertising, but can also be bought by governments and handed over to the police if the company gets a warrant.

5. Your phone company keeps copies of your browsing history or texts about your abortion
The problem: When you use the internet, your internet service provider can keep records of the websites you visit. (However, thanks to encryption called HTTPS, they can’t see what you do on those websites.) When you send a text via SMS, your phone company stores copies of all those texts. These can be turned over if the phone company gets a warrant, or used for advertisement.

In some of the most restrictive states, digital rights experts warn that people’s search histories, location data, messages and other digital information could be used by law enforcement agencies investigating or prosecuting abortion-related cases.

America is a much different place today than in the pre-Roe era: Because of the pervasiveness of the Internet and mobile technology, people today share vast troves of data about themselves — whether they realize it or not — opening the door to significant surveillance.

For example, in states that make it a crime to help an abortion-seeker, data from women’s period-tracking or pregnancy apps could end up being subpoenaed as evidence against the person who helped them, said Danielle Citron, a law professor at the University of Virginia and author of the forthcoming book “The Fight for Privacy.” “Let’s say you got your period, stopped your period and then got your period again in a short time,” Citron said. “It’s [potential] evidence of your own criminality, or your doctor’s criminality.”

Groups promoting digital rights and reproductive freedoms are now warning people in states that criminalize providing access to abortions to safeguard their digital footprints when seeking abortion information and resources online and sharing tips for how to do so.

“We are living in a much more surveilled culture than we were in 1972 and prior, so in a future where abortion rights are limited or there’s not a federal right, people will be at risk for exercising their bodily autonomy,”

A growing number of US lawmakers have expressed alarm about the potential misuse of advertising data to prosecute abortion-seekers. In May, dozens of congressional Democrats wrote to Google saying that the company’s practice of collecting and storing vast troves of geolocation data from cellphones “will allow it to become a tool for far-right extremists looking to crack down on people seeking reproductive health care.” And on June 24, the same day the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, another group of US lawmakers wrote to the Federal Trade Commission saying Apple and Google should face an agency investigation over ad practices that they said could end up harming abortion-seekers.

“Data brokers are already selling, licensing, and sharing the location information of people that visit abortion providers to anyone with a credit card. Prosecutors in states where abortion becomes illegal will soon be able to obtain warrants for location information about anyone who has visited an abortion provider,” wrote the group, which included Sens. Ron Wyden, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Rep. Sara Jacobs. “The FTC should investigate Apple and Google’s role in transforming online advertising into an intense system of surveillance that incentivizes and facilitates the unrestrained collection and constant sale of Americans’ personal data.”

Despite the privacy precautions you take, there is someone who can see everything you do online: your Internet Service Provider (ISP).

When it comes to online privacy, there are a lot of steps you can take to clean up your browsing history and prevent sites from tracking you. Most modern web browsers include some form of privacy mode, which allows you to surf without saving cookies, temporary files, or your browsing history to your computer. Many browsers also include a "Do Not Track" mode, which automatically tells websites you want to opt-out of tracking cookies and similar technologies used for advertising purposes.

While these solutions may keep advertisers and anyone using your computer from viewing your browsing history, your ISP can still watch your every move.

... the data your ISP collects may be accessed by outside organizations, such as the police department or another government agency. If provided with a subpoena, your ISP is legally required to provide whatever information they have on you.

The obvious question here is, what does it matter? We're advertised to all day long on the Internet, what's a few more targeted ads? And who cares if the government uses ISP information to bust some criminals or crack down on terrorism.

That's a good thing, right?

If only it were that simple. For most people, knowing the government could view our online activity probably doesn't seem too scary. But if you live under an oppressive government, even seemingly innocent online activity can be very dangerous. Plus, in an era of almost-daily data breaches, assuming your information is safe with anyone is naive at best. Even ISPs can be affected.