    
Securing Sexuality is the podcast and conference promoting sex positive, science based, and secure interpersonal relationships. We give people tips for safer sex in a digital age. We help sextech innovators and toy designers produce safer products. And we educate mental health and medical professionals on these topics so they can better advise their clients. Securing Sexuality provides sex therapists with continuing education (CEs) for AASECT, SSTAR, and SASH around cyber sexuality and social media, and more. Links from this week's episode: 
Privacy After Roe v. Wade, After Dobbs v. Jackson
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, many individuals are now faced with the challenge of protecting their privacy when researching reproductive options. With a variety of laws and regulations in place, it is important to understand how to protect your privacy when researching reproductive options following the Dobbs v. Jackson decision. This article will provide an overview of some key steps you can take to ensure your privacy is protected while exploring your reproductive options.
First and foremost, it is essential to be aware of any state or federal laws that may affect your ability to access certain information or services related to reproductive health. In some states, there are restrictions on who can access certain types of information or services related to abortion and other forms of contraception. It is important to familiarize yourself with these laws before beginning any research into reproductive options so that you can make sure you are not violating any legal requirements. Additionally, it is important to be aware that some states have enacted “gag rules” which prohibit healthcare providers from discussing certain topics related to abortion or contraception with their patients. It is important for individuals seeking information about reproductive health services and options in these states to be aware that they may not receive all the information they need from their healthcare provider due to these restrictions. Another way individuals can protect their privacy when researching reproductive options in a post-Roe v. Wade world is by utilizing online resources such as websites and forums dedicated specifically to providing accurate and up-to-date information about various forms of contraception and abortion procedures available in different areas across the country. These resources often provide detailed descriptions of different types of contraceptives as well as advice on how best to utilize them for maximum effectiveness and safety purposes without compromising one’s personal privacy or security concerns. Additionally, many online forums also offer support networks for individuals seeking advice on navigating through various legal issues surrounding reproduction rights such as parental consent laws or insurance coverage for abortions depending on where one lives within the United States. Finally, it is important for individuals researching reproductive options in a post-Roe v Wade world to understand how best to protect themselves from potential data breaches which could compromise their personal data such as credit card numbers or social security numbers when accessing online resources related to reproduction rights issues. To this end, it is recommended that users take advantage of secure payment methods such as PayPal whenever possible, use strong passwords, enable two-factor authentication if available, avoid clicking suspicious links sent via email, regularly update software programs used to access websites containing sensitive data, use virtual private networks ( VPNs ) whenever possible while browsing online, disable cookies if not necessary, delete browsing history after each session, avoid using public WiFi networks unless absolutely necessary. By following these simple steps users can greatly reduce the risk of exposing themselves to potential cyber threats while still being able to access accurate up-to-date information regarding various forms of contraception available to them. Protecting one’s privacy when researching reproductive options in a post-Roe v Wade world requires understanding relevant state and federal laws governing access to certain types of services related to reproduction rights, taking advantage of secure payment methods, utilizing online resources dedicated to providing accurate up-to-date information regarding various forms contraception available, and following simple steps reduce risk exposing oneself to potential cyber threats. By taking all necessary precautions outlined above users should be able safely explore their own individual needs without compromising personal data security concerns. Key concepts:
Stefani Goerlich: Hello and welcome to Securing Sexuality, the podcast where we discuss the intersection of intimacy-
Wolf Goerlich: -and information security. I am Wolfgang Goerlich. Stefani Goerlich: He's a hacker. And I am Stefani Goerlich. Wolf Goerlich: And she's a sex therapist. And today together we're going to be discussing what safe sex looks like in a digital age. Stefani Goerlich: Today we're talking about what privacy looks like after Roe v. Wade was overturned. So post-Roe privacy. This is going to be two parts, two episodes. The first one today, we're going to talk a lot about general privacy and managing your digital footprint online. And then in part two, we're going to talk specifically about healthcare and medical privacy. But before we do that, I mean, this is our very first episode. So, you know, Wolf, why don't we talk a little bit about why we're doing this at all? What's the purpose of this podcast? Wolf Goerlich: I think there's a lot of confusion about how to protect yourself online. And for a long time, that has been frustrating for many of us for many reasons. But certainly with the move towards a post-Roe world, I mean, what used to be frustrating from a street sense perspective, frustrating from a information disclosure perspective, now I feel has more real world implications. Stefani Goerlich: Yeah. I mean, we're recording our very first episode on the 4th of July. And you know, I got to say, as a person in America who has been pregnant, who is capable of getting pregnant, this feels like a weird holiday this year. You know, our understanding of what freedom means and looks like is changing in 2022, especially because this is an evolving situation. These court rulings just came down in the last week, week and a half or so. And so there's a lot of confusion around what it even means to have a private life, whether that's around our sexual behavior, our bodily autonomy, our intimate lives. You know, the state laws are now varying from state to state and changing on an almost daily basis. And it can be really confusing to understand what is allowed and what is not now in this day and age. So today, let's talk about that. I want to kind of use Roe as our framework. I want to use reproductive health care as our example. But you know, let's not limit the ideas to just things that people that can get pregnant might need, right? These are tools and resources and information that anybody that's concerned about their online privacy should know about. And more importantly, these are things that especially around Roe need to be acted on before you might think that you need them, right? I mean, it's one thing to end up in a situation where all of a sudden privacy becomes really important. But at that point, the decisions that we're making are creating a pattern of behaviors of slowly withdrawing and hiding. And that can look suspicious if people are looking at us at all. So these are really best practice behaviors that we should be doing now, even if we don't necessarily think that we need to, right? Wolf Goerlich: Yeah, I think you're spot on. The change in behavior part is interesting. Because if someone's looking into your behavior and suddenly you're changing your web browser, suddenly you're buying a different phone, suddenly you're installing privacy apps, there have been many times that that's been made as, well, look, they wouldn't be doing this if they didn't have something to hide. So getting ahead of it is really important. And we're certainly talking about reproductive health in this episode, but I like your point about how these behaviors will protect you in a variety of different situations in a variety of different ways. Stefani Goerlich: So I know that this is what you do for a living, right? So what are we talking about when we're talking about digital footprints and online privacy and managing what information about ourselves is out there? What does that mean in your world? Wolf Goerlich: Yeah, first off, it's probably worse than many people think. And I don't want to start there and sound like I'm being pessimistic or scary. But the way the internet is set up is that things are so easy to track and it's tracked at so many different points, right? From the moment I opened up my email and clicked on the link to get on to this recording with you, I had things being tracked by Google. I had things being tracked by Facebook. We have things being tracked by this recording software we're using. Those things are being tracked on their services. But also I've got a trail on my local computer, my browser history. I've got a trail on my local home router. I've got a trail on that internet provider. You know, across each step we take, there's a tremendous amount of data that gets logged about us. And that's not even thinking about the text messages we exchanged about when do you want to do this recording, when's a good time, those sort of things, right? So our messaging and our activities are traceable and trackable at a level to which is really hard to fathom for most typical people and is really unprecedented in terms of any other activities we do, like walking to the store or taking a walk around the block and having a conversation with someone. The amount of tracking that goes on is very, very granular and is at multiple different levels and therefore very hard to completely escape or avoid. Stefani Goerlich: And what gets tracked gets interpreted, right? I remember a story a couple years ago about Target's sort of consumer algorithms actually reaching a point where they were predicting pregnancy. They were sending people coupons for diapers and baby clothes before those people had even taken a pregnancy test based on their shopping patterns and behaviors. So this is much more intrusive and, you know, as an outsider, it feels kind of insidious because it seems like we are always being watched in some way. Like I know I'm not the only person that's had a conversation and then opened up my social media browser and immediately seen an ad for whatever it was I was just talking about. And I'm sure at some level that's probably a little bit of coincidence, but it doesn't feel like it a lot of the time. It feels like we are being pretty much constantly surveilled. So how do we navigate that when we're talking about this new post-row world? What do people need to be thinking about and doing right now? Wolf Goerlich: Well, I think maybe if we had a more specific scenario, we could answer that because there's so many things that I would just be railing off a bullet list and everyone who's listed this would be turning it off. So maybe we start talking about communication, like if you're exchanging messages, if you're texting or whatnot. Do you want to start there? Stefani Goerlich: Yeah, let's use me as an example. Let's say I found out tomorrow that I was pregnant. You and I are married. Obviously, I'm probably going to text you and be like, oh my God, there's two blue lines. So from the very first minute using me as the example, I realized I'm pregnant. I'm communicating about that using technology. So what do I need to know? Wolf Goerlich: Right. So if you're sending text messages, those text messages are going to be recorded on your phone and they're going to be recorded by your cellular provider. And conceptually, there's a couple of different ways that this could happen, but conceptually, that information is discoverable. So I may not be able to see, for example, well, before we had this conversation, I logged in and I was looking at what I could see. I can't see the text messages per se, but I can see the communication occur. You can see the metadata. And here on phone, of course, you can see these specific text messages. Stefani Goerlich: So is that true for all messaging or are there secure apps? I know that a lot of our mutual friends use Signal, right? Signal's supposed to be secure. Tell me about that. Wolf Goerlich: Yeah. So Signal is a really good alternative here because Signal does not keep track of the exchange. So I could not see that from a cellular tower perspective. I could not see that you and I were exchanging messages. I could not discover it. So it's not discoverable. It's encrypted both ways, which is good. So barring anything, any mistakes, and mistakes occur, but barring any mistakes, those messages themselves can't be discovered. Now, it would still be on your phone and my phone. So another thing that's important about using Signal is to configure Signal to automatically delete messages. There's an option where you can set it by, like if you and I were having a conversation, I could hover over your name and I could set it to delete any messages that we had exchanged after a week or after a day or whatnot. That way, should our phone be compromised or subpoenaed or anything like that, those messages are not there. So yeah, downloading Signal is a good first step. Configuring it to communicate with the people that you're sending messages back and forth to and configuring those messages to automatically delete would prevent that sort of communication path, both the metadata and the specific messages from being discoverable. Stefani Goerlich: Okay. And then even accessing the app itself, I mean, I know I will go to protests. That's not really your jam. I tend to go to protests without you. But one of the things that comes up a lot in preparing for any sort of public gathering is I've been told a lot to turn off the ability for my phone to recognize my face and unlock, because the police can't force you to give them your password. But they can hold it up to your face. And the courts have said that's fine. So turning off our facial recognition systems for our phone security, it sounds like would also add a layer of protection so that they wouldn't even be able to get in to Signal to see the messages on the off chance we forgot to set them up to auto delete, right? Wolf Goerlich: Yeah. Biometrics right now are still being decided. Passwords have been protected, but biometrics.. so your face or your thumbprint, those types of authentications are not protected thoroughly. So you're absolutely right. If you got arrested and you had your phone, someone could hold the phone up to your face or force you to use your fingerprint to unlock it. Stefani Goerlich: Okay. So we've decided on the scenario. I'm pregnant. I've got my biometrics turned off on my phone. I'm communicating with you using Signal. You and I decide that we want to do some research. We want to explore sort of what all of our options are and even what's allowed right now, right in this new reality. How do I do that safely? How do I search in a way that's not going to leave a trail? How do I share that information with you in a way that's not going to leave a trail? Is there a way to secure my email the same way I secure my messages? Is there a way to do private searches? I mean, everybody knows about Chrome incognito mode, but I'm not sure how secure that is relative to others. Wolf Goerlich: Yeah. Remember what I was saying about things can still be tracked at various different levels. So if you open up Chrome incognito mode, the website you go to is still tracked. So that's still going to be available off of your home router. It's going to be available off your internet service provider. So even though it prevents the cookie side of conversations, so like other ad networks can't track you, it doesn't necessarily protect against some of those upstream conversations. If you want to be very safe about it, you want a secure browser and you want a secure search engine, a search engine and a browser that are dedicated to protecting your privacy. Obviously, Google with Chrome, Google is in the business of doing advertising, right? That's how they make most of their money. So clearly they spend a lot of time watching what you do and tracking that. And as well, if you're also logged into Facebook, Facebook can oftentimes glean a lot of information, which is why in my environment I'm never logged into Facebook or Twitter and social media. So let's talk about browsers. The secure browser, the most popular one, most well-known one, most well-supported one is called Brave. So you could use a browser like Brave to do your searches. And that would provide you a degree of privacy off of snipping from ad networks and social media sites and whatnot. You could use DuckDuckGo for your search engine. So DuckDuckGo doesn't do tracking. It's very much built around the privacy side. So if you want to search on things and be protected, you would use a combination of Brave and DuckDuckGo. Something still that our internet service provider would likely have a list of what sites you went to. Stefani Goerlich: So is there a way to make sure that they don't? Is there, first of all, Brave, it sounds like that would be in my brain like an alternative to a Chrome or a Firefox, right? Like I would download that. Okay. So if I'm using Brave, is there a way to make sure that my service provider isn't recording what I'm doing? Wolf Goerlich: Go somewhere where there's a lot of other people browsing. So coffee shops, places like that, right? Where the internet service provider may still be tracing it, but you're just one among many, many people who are browsing things at the moment. Stefani Goerlich: So this is the one time when you would tell me to take advantage of the mall Wi-Fi. Wolf Goerlich: Yes. Well, if there's anyone in the mall, but yeah, absolutely. Stefani Goerlich: Usually when you and I are traveling, you tell me to avoid the public Wi-Fi, but it sounds like getting lost in a crowd can sometimes be an okay thing. Wolf Goerlich: Yes. Yes. Now there's also additional things you could do, right? So you could also use a VPN and tunnel your information out that way, or you could use their privacy networks like Tor that you could use. So setting up a VPN or setting up Tor would be recommended. Now we're getting into, like, there's a lot of nuance there, right? Making sure it's a good VPN, making sure that you're on the right Tor nodes and everything. And I think at that point in time, it's getting pretty complicated because we've seen people compromise Tor. We've seen people sell VPNs that are actually fully monitored and they're monetizing that data. Stefani Goerlich: So for somebody like me who doesn't have a cybersecurity background, I'm just a mental health provider who's hypothetically pregnant for this conversation. Do I want to get that deep into things? Do I want to try and find a VPN? Do I want to try and figure out Tor or do I want to download Brave and go to a Starbucks? Wolf Goerlich: So I'm going to say something and people are going to, my infosec people will argue with me and we'll have a great debate and who's listening to this. My thought would be to go to a coffee shop or go to a public Wi-Fi, use Brave, use DuckDuckGo and don't buy anything with credit cards so there's no record of you being there. Also turn off your phone and GPS so there's no record of you being there. That would be, in my mind, if you're doing a few searches, the easiest way. If this is, we're going to really double down on secure browsing and those sort of things, then search out someone like me. Not the listener audience, I'm not available, but you, my wife, could contact me, your husband, and say hey, could you set this up for me? Stefani Goerlich: Okay, so I do my research, I figure out what our choices are in terms of this hypothetical pregnancy and I want to send you the information that I found that way you can help me make my decision. As a therapist, I use ProtonMail a lot because it's a secure email. I am comfortable legally with my clients using ProtonMail to send me things back and forth. How secure is ProtonMail for something that, depending upon where you live, might unexpectedly or suddenly become, let's say, legally problematic? Wolf Goerlich: Yeah, I think ProtonMail is safe for this use case, but recognize that the person you're exchanging information with, you also don't want them at home answering that email and then clicking on all the links you sent and then registering those things back with your home address, right? You've got to be careful to make sure that whoever you're exchanging information with is not now degrading your privacy. Stefani Goerlich: What can I do to monitor that or to know if it's happening? I know that before you and I met, when I was single, I used to have apps that would actually tell me if the person I was texting had screen capped something I had sent them, but are there ways to know whether or not an email has been preserved or forwarded? Wolf Goerlich: No, not really. Okay. There has to be a degree of trust. I mean, again, the technologists, listeners are going to go, but Wolf, what if you were to set up like a relay or a DRM in your email? But for the sake of most people, most typical people are going about their lives, you need to start off by having a conversation with who you're exchanging information with and make sure that they're trustworthy and that they understand what's at risk. Stefani Goerlich: And that's especially true in states like Texas, where they're passing bounty laws, right? Where if you and I had a different kind of relationship and I came to you and said, hey, I just found out I'm pregnant. I might think that as my partner, as my boyfriend, you would be supportive of my decisions, but $10,000 that you didn't have before I told you that could sway that. So really being very discreet and very cautious and conscientious about who we're talking to right now is huge because there's a financial incentive for people to break that trust these days. Wolf Goerlich: Yeah. And we all know that like lots of people, whenever things happen, they want to reach out to their friend network and talk about these things. And that is ill-advised in this situation. Stefani Goerlich: So that's one thing that I've talked to clients about in the past that might share calendar systems with their partner, because parenting and just managing a household together, it makes sense to have a shared calendar. We have a shared calendar. In the past, historically, period tracker apps for fertility, for menstrual tracking have been really handy. And one of the things that I think most people at this point have heard is, oh my God, delete those apps. I do know that at least one clue came out really strongly and said, we're based in Germany. We have to follow European privacy laws. We are committed to never ever turning over US data. So that's great. But if somebody wanted to just stop using those apps altogether, one thing that I've discussed with my clients is the idea of sort of coming up with a code to use in your calendar tracking. Even if it's a pen and paper calendar, right? If you end up in the hospital and somebody is looking at your day runner, you want to be sure that they're not going to see anything that's going to let them know more about your healthcare than you want them to. So instead of tracking menstrual cycles, you could track workouts, right? And maybe put aerobics means your period started. Or one person that I know has started using skincare. They'll do it every week, they'll put a facial on their calendar. And then when they do a mud mask, that's their sort of internal cue or personal cue to know that it was the first day of their last period. So there are things that you can do that feel kind of like covert and spy versus spy right now. But you almost have to, right? I mean, there's so much uncertainty. And so many people in our world, depending upon what state you're in, now have a moral and they feel moral, but also a financial stake in my information and my decision making. Wolf Goerlich: So with those types of trackers, what, what are you thinking? I know you spend a lot of time looking at different tracking apps and reading into this. Stefani Goerlich: So right now, the only one I would recommend would be Clue. But even then, I completely respect somebody that does not want to risk any sort of digital footprint there. And in those cases, a pen and paper calendar that uses a coded system as opposed to a really overt, my period started today sort of signal could be a really beneficial thing. Especially if you are living in a housing situation or in a family system that might not be supportive if you were to get pregnant, being able to protect your privacy and your information and your especially reproductive information at all possible levels, whether it's on paper or online is super important right now. Wolf Goerlich: Yeah. And I think on paper is always the safest bet because anything online can be copied or moved to a situation where it's not. Now you may say, well, wait a minute, if it's on paper, it could be photographed or it could be made to be online. Sure. Sure. Um, but it's much easier and much more likely that anything digital will be discoverable. Stefani Goerlich: And if we're using a euphemism, especially a euphemism of that would be something we would do in the privacy of our home, like a workout or skincare, it's less likely to be something that somebody could challenge as opposed to writing down, um, I went to the gym on this day and worked out for 30 minutes, being able to come up with a way to cue yourself and remember facts for yourself, but not give information that somebody else could second guess or prove wrong is really important right now. To that point, speaking of second guessing and proving wrong, there has been a lot of very well intentioned posts on social media, right? About this whole, if you come and visit me, if you need to go camping with air quotes or if you need a vacation with air quotes, I have an extra bedroom. There's been a lot of sort of like, if you need an auntie in California or an auntie in Colorado, um, I've adopted you and I'm your auntie now. Do you feel like that's a good idea given what we've been talking about, about social media? Wolf Goerlich: Absolutely not because things like the type of algorithms that are run, against hard data. You mentioned how often you've got a conversation going on and then you opened up Facebook and you saw an ad or you saw something similar pop up, you know, that was related to your conversation. Uh, don't think for a minute that now that we're talking about camping, um, somehow that circumvents all the algorithms. All you're going to teach is all the algorithms that camping means this exact activity. Needless to say, that's just on the IT side. That's just on the algorithm side. That's just on the technical side. I don't think any people who read those messages are likewise going to be fooled. I think what you're basically setting up is, Hey, let's watch this person and anyone who reaches out to them, let's back trail that and figure out why they reached out to them. You're effectively painting targets on people who are looking for help. Stefani Goerlich: So that's scary because a lot of people want to help right now. And I don't know that they're thinking about that, about the way that if all of a sudden, um, you're logging in on Facebook and posting pictures of your niece visiting from Oklahoma, um, that that's just kind of highlighting that your visitor from Oklahoma is probably following up on that anti-network tweet that you sent out a week before, right? Like that's creating that, that paper trail that we're trying to avoid. Wolf Goerlich: Yes. Yes, yes, yes. So avoid that. Stefani Goerlich: So we've talked a lot about what technologies are out there that people can use, right? We want to, let me see if I can be a good student for the hacker expert today. I want to use Signal when I'm talking to my partner about my hypothetical pregnancy. I want to use Download and use Brave as my browser when I'm researching my pregnancy options and I want to do that using something like DuckDuckGo as opposed to Chrome Incognito mode. Um, I want to use a secure email like ProtonMail when I send you the stuff that I found. Whatever decision you and I make, I want to make sure that I'm turning off my phone location. I'm not using my GPS to get myself there. I want to delete my browser histories and my period tracker apps. What else can I be doing? We've talked a lot about my hypothetical pregnancy in our last couple minutes. What can I do to be a good ally? What are the things that I can do if I can't post on Facebook that somebody can come and stay at my house? Wolf Goerlich: Well, there's been a lot of groups that have been working on this problem for a long time, right? There's been a lot of local abortion providers and health providers. There's been a lot of existing support network that's been constructed. I would say volunteer and provide financial support to those organizations. Stefani Goerlich: And that makes a lot of sense because they have the infrastructure in place. They knew that this was coming. They are the ones that are ready and able to help us navigate my hypothetical pregnancy no matter what state I live in. I think that makes a lot of sense. So in our final few seconds, what do you want our listeners to know about managing their privacy in a post-Roe world? Wolf Goerlich: Well, I think we covered an awful lot here and I think your recap was good. I'd also say pay cash, pay cash whenever you can. We're going to go through a time where privacy is going to become much more difficult and a lot of the fundamental foundations of the internet and of social media were not constructed for this, which is going to be confusing. It's going to be difficult. Stefani Goerlich: And it's going to require a lot of conversation. Most American women are not lucky enough to be married to a cybersecurity consultant, right? Most of us are muddling through this new world as best we can, trying to figure out ever-changing rules, new social expectations, the ramifications for our health, for our relationships. And I really hope that in the days ahead, we can help whoever finds this podcast to make the safest, best decision for them, whatever that might be. Next week, I am going to want to turn the tables and have you ask me questions about privacy in healthcare settings. But until then, thank you everyone for listening to our very first episode of Securing Sexuality. Feel free to reach out to us at securingsexuality.com and tune in next time to learn more about the intersection of intimacy and information security, and how to have safe sex in a digital age. 
Comments are closed.
|
RSS Feed