With the recent Supreme Court ruling ending federal protection for abortions, we have seen many calls on social media to erase popular period tracking applications. While it’s nice to know when the next one is coming and it’s nice to be able to give your doctor the answer to that popular question, women in some states may end up using that data against them in court should they have an abortion. a state that forbids it. Even if you travel to another state, some states have indicated that they want to prosecute you if you ever return.
Deleting pregnancy evidence from your phone may be a wise move, but one application in your smartphone is far from the only gadget you can disapprove of for the authorities.
The Period Tracker app is just the tip of the iceberg of your digital privacy
What else can hurt you later? The obvious first answer is your entire smartphone. A variety of applications track your movement, especially if you use the phone for navigation on a long road trip. So, if you are traveling out of the state to do something that your home state considers illegal, it is best to leave the phone at home or turn it off as much as possible. You definitely do not want it on for the very last leg of the ride to a clinic.
There are many other ways to track your movements. Credit and bank records can give you away, so make sure you use cash on such a trip. There is also a network of license plate cameras in public and private ownership across the United States that are mostly used by repo men to track down a car with late payments, but it is sometimes used by the police to collect data about you to get movements. So, getting a friend to drive you or to borrow a friend’s car can also be a good step. Airplane, bus and train tickets can also be used against you.
Even if you are only researching options for abortion, mobile devices and computers collect information about you. Your router and ISP probably also collect information about what you watched online and when. You definitely do not want to use your car’s built-in computer to research options here or to find / navigate a clinic. To prevent your internet activity from being monitored and recorded, consider using the Tor browser. If you want to be extra careful, use Whonix in a virtual machine or from a USB drive.
If you have already done research, delete your browser history and do not do any more research without taking the above precautions. You will want to do the same for any application or device you have researched.
Communicate with someone about your options? Do not text, email or call them from your phone. Use the Signal application and make sure they also use the Signal application. Set Signal to delete messages after a few minutes so that no record of that conversation is kept. Or, better yet, talk about such things in person with no devices of any kind in the same room with you.
Here’s a guide from EFF on maintaining your digital privacy. Read it and follow it.
Coupled vehicles are just as vulnerable as a smartphone
One thing most drivers will not think of is the danger that comes from coupled vehicles.
Like a period tracker app, there is a lot of convenience that comes from a paired car. Are you going out and it’s super hot or freezing cold out? Knock out your phone and tell your car to pre-condition the interior for you, and you can get in a comfortable car when you leave. Navigation and live maps, traffic information, music and even games and movies can all come through a paired vehicle’s antenna. Many vehicles have “location-based charging” that knows which charging settings to use at home or at different public stations. When things are at their worst, a coupled car can call for help if you are rendered unconscious in an accident, so there is safety in connectivity as well.
But there is a dark side. If the police can convince a judge that there is a probable cause that you have committed or are committing crimes, they can get a warrant that obliges private companies to share information and even spy on you. And there is a long history of law enforcement at all levels using cars like this.
It is easy to locate your location or to find your previous location, even with relatively primitive coupled vehicles. Even if you have a “stupid” car, something as harmless as Sirius XM radio can sometimes be used to locate your whereabouts. More advanced coupled vehicles can provide more and more data, including live audio from inside the vehicle. Vehicles with ADAS or in-development autonomous vehicle functions can even store video of where your car was, and that video can remain on the vehicle’s on-board computers or sent to the manufacturer. All this information is one summons or warrant out of use (and against your use — Save.) by police.
Upload your EV
Another vulnerable point for EVs is charging. Even if you do everything right, charging at a Tesla Supercharger or something like an Electrify America station leaves a trail of breadcrumbs that can lead from your home to your destination outside the state. Depending on your vehicle, it may be impossible to charge anonymously. I will cover some ways to get it later.
It is sometimes possible to load without leaving those breadcrumbs. One possibility is to use free Level 2 J1772 charging. With J1772, your vehicle does not communicate its VIN number or other vehicle information. I recommend using a free drive because a paid drive requires you to give it a credit card or membership of some kind to activate, which will leave records. Free Level 3 stations using the CCS or CHAdeMO standard are more risky, but you can find free stations, often at car dealerships, that do not require you to provide any personal information to get a charge. If you drive a Tesla, adapters will be needed to use those drives.
But there is an alternative strategy you can use if you cannot deactivate your vehicle’s charge or if you need to use paid Level 3 charging stations. I’ll go through that and much, much more in Part 2.
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