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Facebook and Google hand over user data, help police prosecute abortion seekers

businessinsider.com

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Re: Facebook and Google hand over user data, help police prosecute abortion seekers

#111

Post by orra »

heavyset_go wrote: post #92
yanderekko wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>One legal expert said social platforms may cooperate with police even if not legally required to. From my reading of the article this is purely speculative, however. There's no actual assertion that FB/Google are doing more than complying with valid warrants, other than observing that this appears to be the case with other types of warrants. So I guess one could fault these companies for not fighting tooth and nail…

> From my reading of the article this is purely speculative, however. Apple publishes statistics about their shared data, and whether data shared was shared because of a warrant or request. The company very often just hands over data without a warrant, a simple request is all that's needed. I doubt they are unique in that regard.

Precisely. And, you know, maybe they could challenge some of these warrants, even if retroactively?

Re: Facebook and Google hand over user data, help police prosecute abortion seekers

#113

Post by mulmen »

lelanthran wrote: post #107
mulmen wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should do the bare minimum to familiarize yourself before wading in to this particular topic. Abortion legality varies by state in the US. This is a recent development. I wouldn’t expect to be prosecuted, or even investigated, for typing “how people get away with bank robbery” into Google. Or for watching The Dark Knight.

> You should do the bare minimum to familiarize yourself before wading in to this particular topic. I did, and my understanding is that any secondary crimes uncovered during an investigation of a crime can be pursued. What about that do you disagree with?

> Firstly, can you even prosecute a woman for abortion? Aren't they legal?

This part.

Re: Facebook and Google hand over user data, help police prosecute abortion seekers

#114

Post by psychoslave »

diceduckmonk wrote: post #50
f6v wrote: post #44

Is the issue that Meta and Google comply with the law(turning in the data to crime investigators), or that the law itself is medieval? I mean, both are concerning in their own way. But the latter seems like a much much bigger problem.

> comply with the law What concerns you about this?

Nothing really. Here is the list of this ethnic people you want to eliminate in conformance with the law you just passed on mandatory abortion and sterilization, oh my great overlord. Congratulations for your successful putsch by the way.

Re: Facebook and Google hand over user data, help police prosecute abortion seekers

#115

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

lapcat wrote: post #83
aww_dang wrote: post #68

The framing is inflammatory. What most people can agree upon is that the surveillance state is out of control. I'm sure I'll be flamed into oblivion here, but it is worth considering the headline from the perspective of the anti-abortionists. If we cannot empathize or attempt to understand those who disagree, what is the point of having a discussion? "FB and Google hand over user data, help to prosecute baby killers"…

Think of it this way though: 50 years of legal precedent was overturned last year. Women who are young enough to get abortions have lived their entire lives not being considered murderers, legally. Abortion was an explicitly protected legal right. Now suddenly, a woman is transformed overnight from a citizen freely exercising their legal right into an illegal murderer — but of course only in certain localities. How a…

Sounds opposite to what’s going on with pot in many states. Illegal for decades. Now legal. Massive U-turn.

Laws of the land change, like everything else in this world.

Re: Facebook and Google hand over user data, help police prosecute abortion seekers

#116

Post by salawat »

madeofpalk wrote: post #84
diceduckmonk wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, which is your second point about the law existing being the concern. Companies are simply enforcing the law, right or wrong.

Companies should not enforce laws. They should just follow them.

Except in this case, they are doing both. To not do what you're asking (not turn over data on abortion seekers), they would be breaking the law if they received a valid warrant.

Now... They could comply with the law by not hoovering up as much data as they do, thereby becoming useless to both advertiser and law enforcement alike....

But that jeopardizes their business model.

Re: Facebook and Google hand over user data, help police prosecute abortion seekers

#117

Post by concordDance »

A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #54
bboygravity wrote: post #46

Interesting to realize that I now have to equally self-censor whether I'm using WeChat (China) versus any US-based service (Western world) for communication..

Unless you're working on sensitive or compartmentalized tech, and talking about it on the platform, I don't even see why you'd need to self-censor on WeChat. The Chinese, for all their faults, don't seem to care what you do in your spare time. That said, I don't know if I'd feel comfortable discussing my medical history over Gmail or Facebook, even if ostensibly "private."

> The Chinese, for all their faults, don't seem to care what you do in your spare time.

I thought pyrography (for example) was illegal in China

Re: Facebook and Google hand over user data, help police prosecute abortion seekers

#119

Post by CM30 »

croes wrote: post #12

Those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear. Unless they change the laws and suddenly you have something to hide.

Yep. Too many people design systems (both technical and otherwise) under the assumption 'their team' will always be in control, and it'll be their enemies who suffer.

Or that hey, this power will never be abused because the system won't allow it, and those in control will always have our best interests in mind.

Don't collect more data than you have to, limit the power of any systems you implement, and always design things under the assumption your enemies will take control of it in future.

Re: Facebook and Google hand over user data, help police prosecute abortion seekers

#120

Post by concordDance »

lelanthran wrote: post #94
croes wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if the Iranian government wants data, they should comply?

> So if the Iranian government wants data, they should comply? If they want to do business in a certain nation, they'll have to comply with the laws of that nation. Are you proposing that companies be above the law? That they should be able to pick and choose which laws apply to them?

Hmm...

What if they don't do business in that country but simply don't block that country?

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