VOA新闻杂志2022--堕胎案后引发的在线隐私问题

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A woman in the American state of Nebraska has been charged this week with helping¹ her daughter end her pregnancy². The charges came after investigators³ got Facebook messages in which the two discussed using medication to end the pregnancy at about 24 weeks.

The prosecutor⁴ said it is the first time he has charged anyone for illegally ending a pregnancy after 20 weeks, a restriction⁵ Nebraska established in 2010.

In June, the U.S. Supreme⁶ Court overturned Roe⁷ v. Wade⁸. Before that, American states were not permitted to enforce abortion⁹ bans until about 24 weeks. An abortion is any medical operation to end a pregnancy.

Meta, which owns Facebook, said Tuesday that Nebraska law enforcement ordered it to surrender records connected to the case on June 7. That was more than two weeks before the Supreme Court decision.

The orders, the company added, "did not mention abortion at all." It said the orders concerned a police investigation¹⁰ of "the case of a stillborn baby who was burned and buried."

In early June, the mother and daughter were charged with removing a body, hiding the death of a person, and false reporting. After investigators examined the private Facebook messages, a month later, government lawyers added abortion-related charges against the mother.

Lawyers representing the mother and daughter have not answered media requests for comment. The case, however, has renewed concerns about data privacy in the United States.

Tech industry response

Even before the U.S. Supreme Court decision in June, technology companies have faced increasing calls to protect the personal data that they collect from users. Many fear that law enforcement or activists¹¹ could use the data, including messages, search histories, and locations, against people seeking abortions¹² or those who try to help them.

Until this past May, anyone could buy mobile phone data of people at more than 600 Planned Parenthood sites around the country for as little as $160. A recent investigation by Vice¹³ Media said the information included where the phones "sleep" at night, time spent at the health center, and places people visited before and afterward¹⁴.

In June, Democratic lawmakers asked federal agencies to investigate Apple and Google for enabling the collection and sale of their data to third parties. The following month, Google announced it will automatically remove information about users who visit abortion centers or places that could bring legal problems following the Supreme Court decision.

Privacy rights supporters say that is not enough. In the Nebraska case, for instance, neither Meta nor law enforcement would have been able to read the messages had they been encrypted the way messages on Meta's WhatsApp service are protected by default.

"Meta must flip¹⁵ the switch and make end-to-end encryption a default in all private messages, including on Facebook and Instagram. Doing so will literally¹⁶ save pregnant people's lives," said Caitlin Seeley George. She leads the nonprofit rights group Fight for the Future.

Governments and law enforcement can use court orders to force tech companies to surrender users' data. But technology companies have said little about cooperating with law enforcement or government agencies trying to prosecute¹⁷ people seeking an abortion where it is illegal.

Meta, for example, pointed¹⁸ to its online transparency report, which says "we comply with government requests for user information only where we have a good-faith belief that the law requires us to do so."

Users must help themselves

Abortion rights activists suggest that people in states where abortion is illegal should avoid creating such online data in the first place. They say people should turn off phone location services — or just leave their phones at home — when seeking reproductive health care. The experts also suggest learning the privacy policies of any health apps in use.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation suggests using web browsers¹⁹ that protect privacy such as Brave, Firefox and DuckDuckGo. The organization also suggests double-checking the privacy settings on browsers and turning off tracking on mobile devices.

Words in This Story

prosecutor - n. government lawyer who accuses a person of a crime

encrypt - v. to change information to another form in order to hide its meaning

flip the switch - phrase, to change suddenly or to do the opposite

transparency - n. the quality that makes it possible to see or understand something

track - v. to follow and watch something or someone

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

3 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

5 restriction   

n.限制，约束

参考例句：

• The park is open to the public without restriction.这个公园对公众开放，没有任何限制。
• The 30 mph speed restriction applies in all built-up areas.每小时限速30英里适用于所有建筑物聚集区。

6 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

7 roe   

n.鱼卵；獐鹿

参考例句：

• We will serve smoked cod's roe at the dinner.宴会上我们将上一道熏鳕鱼子。
• I'll scramble some eggs with roe?我用鱼籽炒几个鸡蛋好吗？

8 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

9 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

10 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

11 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 abortions   

n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育

参考例句：

• The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人：不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
• Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论：染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网

13 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

14 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

15 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

16 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

17 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

18 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

19 browsers   

浏览器

参考例句：

• Three-layer architecture is a model made up of browser, web server and background database server. 这种体系结构是由Browser、Web Server、Database Server组成的浏览器／Web服务器／后台数据库服务器三层模型。 来自互联网
• Another excellent approach is to abandon the browser entirely and, instead, create a non-browser-based, Internet-enabled application. 另一个非常好的方法是干脆放弃浏览器，取而代之，创建一个不基于浏览器，但却是基于互联网的应用。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓