1598
submitted 1 year ago by JRepin@lemmy.ml to c/technology@lemmy.ml

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/1874605

A 17-year-old from Nebraska and her mother are facing criminal charges including performing an illegal abortion and concealing a dead body after police obtained the pair’s private chat history from Facebook, court documents published by Motherboard show.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] LeZero@lemmy.world 532 points 1 year ago

To the people shitting on the idea of a default defederation with Meta, how about we deferedate not because it will affect us as posters but because they are evil pieces of shit?

[-] b3nsn0w@pricefield.org 196 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

yeah, the difference is pretty stark:

  • lemmy: we'll give you a way to dm anyone on site, but please don't use that, if you set up an app on this other open source service we're not affiliated with (which is basically an encrypted discord) we'll do our best to make it as seamless for you as possible. we'll keep warning you for your own privacy.
  • meta/facebook: aggressively keeps you on-platform for spying purposes; literally killed xmpp a decade ago and they'll fuckin do it again (if we let them)

They trust me. Dumb fucks.

- Mark Zuckerberg

(yes it sounds like satire but that's a real quote)

[-] nLuLukna@sh.itjust.works 25 points 1 year ago

The Lemmy DM is imo actually quite important. If I want to get in touch with someone about a post, nothing more. It is an easy option, and serves a purpose. It isn't imo meant to be used for anything else.

[-] b3nsn0w@pricefield.org 26 points 1 year ago

yep, it's important that we have this capability, but it's also nice that unlike other platforms that do their best to lock you in, lemmy actively pushes you toward a safer alternative

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] blue_zephyr@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago

I mean I agree with Zuck on that one.

load more comments (26 replies)
[-] Lemmylefty@lemmy.world 54 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

And even if what I do is relatively tame, I want others to be protected from the wolf at the door.

[-] whofearsthenight@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago

This. I don't need to win, I just want Meta to lose.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] WindyRebel@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

Are you saying that the individuals who run these servers and instances aren’t subject to the same laws? I read the article, and Facebook complied with a court order.

You don’t think anyone running Lemmy would do the same without access to lawyers and capital like Facebook has?

[-] LeZero@lemmy.world 45 points 1 year ago

Do you have to run your lemmy instance in the US?

Maybe do it in a less backward place

[-] WindyRebel@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago

Not disagreeing with you there.

[-] lazynooblet@lazysoci.al 17 points 1 year ago

Every interaction on Lemmy is copied to all other federated instances. There are instances all over the world with a copy of yours and my comment. They can track and use those comments for any purpose. Its both a blessing and a curse of an open federated structure.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (7 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (16 replies)
[-] SkyNTP@lemmy.ml 137 points 1 year ago

Just yesterday here on Lemmy, I mentioned the dangers of violating privacy, and some commenters went on about "what dangers?" Implying there were none...

Is it not enough to gesture broadly?

[-] Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago

No one has anything to hide, until they do

[-] waspentalive@lemmy.one 34 points 1 year ago

I once heard that "Anyone can be charged with a crime if they can be watched closely enough for long enough."

load more comments (7 replies)
[-] DrQuint@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

At this point, they'll just say "yeah, but these people did a crime. I don't do crimes so I have nothing to worry about". The problem with that mentality, I would hope, doesn't need to be stated.

I stopped trying to change the world.

load more comments (32 replies)
[-] kevincox@lemmy.ml 134 points 1 year ago

People are getting all upset at Facebook/Meta here but they were served a valid warrant. I don't think there is much to get mad about them here. The takeaway I get is this:

Avoid giving data to others. No matter how trustworthy they are (not that Meta is) they can be legally compelled to release it. Trust only in cryptography.

There is of course the other question of if abortion being illegal is a policy that most people agree with...but that is a whole different kettle of fish that I won't get into here.

[-] PaulDevonUK@lemmy.world 48 points 1 year ago

Maybe just elect non fanatical nut jobs?

[-] kevincox@lemmy.ml 17 points 1 year ago

Good luck with that. The way voting works in the US basically guarantees a 2-party race. With only 2 parties you end up having policies grouped into these huge bundles, so making an actual decision on any particular issue is incredibly difficult. (Unless you are a billionaire and want to lobby a party for a law)

[-] IllNess@infosec.pub 36 points 1 year ago

Completely right. This is an education issue.

There are several other issues how these two handled this situation.

Court and police records show that police began investigating 17-year-old Celeste Burgess and her mother Jessica Burgess after receiving a tip-off that the pair had illegally buried a stillborn child given birth to prematurely by Celeste.

Don't discuss this or involve anyone else.

The two women told detective Ben McBride of the Norfolk, Nebraska Police Division that they’d discussed the matter on Facebook Messenger, which prompted the state to issue Meta with a search warrant for their chat history and data including log-in timestamps and photos.

Why are they even talking to police? Lawyer up, even if the lawyer is free.

(E2EE is available in Messenger but has to be toggled on manually. It’s on by default in WhatsApp.)

Facebook messenger and text message is the absolute worse way to discuss things like this. They should've at least turned on E2EE but they already admitted fault and their devices would've been taken away anyway.

They seem like they together. They should've just discussed this in person.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Steeve@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 year ago

This is an older story, and 5 months later Meta announced that they're rolling out full E2EE encryption to Messenger, I don't think that's a coincidence. Are they doing it out of the goodness of their hearts? Probably not, they're a corporation, but this does show that global backlash actually works for something.

Use end to end encrypted messaging apps, and, if you're in a situation like this, know what they can be forced to share via court order. For example, while WhatsApp has full E2EE and messages can't be turned over, IP addresses can, which can be used to track location, so don't connect to an abortion clinic's wifi for example. Probably just a good rule in general, as law enforcement could subpoena router logs if they have a suspicion.

Ideally use something that can hand over less metadata like Signal if you're in this sort of situation, they don't even keep IP address, but this is a lesser known app that also relies on the recipient using Signal.

load more comments (9 replies)
[-] Vaginal_blood_fart@sh.itjust.works 126 points 1 year ago

America is a terrifying church with guns. I pity the citizens.

[-] Rhabuko@feddit.de 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Every country has the anti-abortion cancer movement and it wouldn't surprise me if the shit gets more serious here in Europe too with the rise of far right parties. As a matter of fact you have only to look at Poland.

load more comments (6 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[-] ezmack@lemmy.ml 81 points 1 year ago

Regardless of what you think about abortion laws people just gotta come to terms with the fact that your phone and computer are not reliable partners in crime

[-] whofearsthenight@lemmy.world 50 points 1 year ago

They should be? I mean, not just for the crime, but in general privacy should be the default.

[-] ezmack@lemmy.ml 37 points 1 year ago

I mean yeah it should but you gotta follow the old saying "don't write when you can speak, don't speak when you can nod, don't nod if you can wink" or whatever. You have an expectation of privacy when sending physical mail for example, but it's still a bad idea to put a crime in writing if you don't have to. Even if it can't legally be used as evidence it can be read. We've seen that with 'parallel construction' from law enforcement

load more comments (6 replies)
load more comments (8 replies)
[-] FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world 77 points 1 year ago

Yeah, that sounds pretty on-brand for Meta

[-] kevincox@lemmy.ml 27 points 1 year ago

They are just complying with the law here. As much as I don't think Meta are great people I'd rather that they follow the law than make their own decisions. Of course we should also consider fixing these laws, but that isn't really Meta's responsibility.

load more comments (17 replies)
[-] Dioxy@programming.dev 65 points 1 year ago
[-] gapbetweenus@feddit.de 47 points 1 year ago

If you have nothing to hide... but then they just change the laws, now you are a criminal and they already have handy tools in place to convict you.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] 01189998819991197253@infosec.pub 46 points 1 year ago

"private chat history" on Facebook...

[-] mochi@lemdit.com 41 points 1 year ago

Well, don't use Facebook to talk about doing things that are illegal. Why do people not use common sense?

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] wtry@lemm.ee 40 points 1 year ago

Remember folks, when subverting a theocratic hellscape, use something encrypted.

load more comments (9 replies)
[-] LuckyLu@lemmy.world 37 points 1 year ago
load more comments (9 replies)
[-] cedarmesa@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] PseudoSpock@lemmy.fmhy.ml 32 points 1 year ago

Use Signal messenger and have it set for auto deletion of messages if you must message!!!

load more comments (6 replies)
[-] FrankTheHealer@lemmy.ml 30 points 1 year ago

"I gUeSs IlL use ThReAdS. WhAts ThE hArM" /s

[-] lemonadebunny@lemmy.ca 26 points 1 year ago

Fuck Meta!!

[-] Thorgs@feddit.de 26 points 1 year ago

Just deleted my Instagram Account for good. I have no need for any Meta App on my Phone or any other Stasi like Institution

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] nik282000@lemmy.ml 25 points 1 year ago

the pair’s private chat history

There is no such thing as a private chat on a platform you do not own. And even if you DO own the platform it is only as private as the participants decide it to be. Hopefully people start to realize this before complete non-privacy becomes the accepted norm.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] 0110101001100010@programming.dev 23 points 1 year ago

Not that facebook doesn't suck and we definitely shouldn't federate with Threads. But here's another article on this. Very late abortion where the fetus was probably viable. 17 year old was like, "I can't wait to get this thing out of me. I can finally where jeans." swallowed some pills to abort. Burned and buried the body on a farm. and the mom and daughter told the police about the facebook messages.

https://www.npr.org/2022/08/10/1116716749/a-nebraska-woman-is-charged-with-helping-her-daughter-have-an-abortion

load more comments (6 replies)
[-] rm_dash_r_star@lemm.ee 18 points 1 year ago

Aside from any moral or political views, it amuses me when people do criminal acts and fail to realize police can inspect personal data like text messages, email, and social media. I think people smart enough to realize that are smart enough to avoid committing a crime in the first place. Though there are smart criminals that get away with it, you just don't hear about them because they don't get caught. In any case I tend to think being stupid is prerequisite to being a criminal.

[-] Dr_Cog@mander.xyz 26 points 1 year ago

The only crime here is the crime against humanity of taking away a person's agency over their own body

load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments (9 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2023
1598 points (98.0% liked)

Technology

34973 readers
178 users here now

This is the official technology community of Lemmy.ml for all news related to creation and use of technology, and to facilitate civil, meaningful discussion around it.


Ask in DM before posting product reviews or ads. All such posts otherwise are subject to removal.


Rules:

1: All Lemmy rules apply

2: Do not post low effort posts

3: NEVER post naziped*gore stuff

4: Always post article URLs or their archived version URLs as sources, NOT screenshots. Help the blind users.

5: personal rants of Big Tech CEOs like Elon Musk are unwelcome (does not include posts about their companies affecting wide range of people)

6: no advertisement posts unless verified as legitimate and non-exploitative/non-consumerist

7: crypto related posts, unless essential, are disallowed

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS