{"id":1853,"date":"2022-07-13T21:13:29","date_gmt":"2022-07-13T21:13:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.rose-hulman.edu\/holden\/?page_id=1853"},"modified":"2022-07-14T18:48:51","modified_gmt":"2022-07-14T18:48:51","slug":"cryptography-privacy-and-abortion-rights","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.rose-hulman.edu\/holden\/the-mathematics-of-secrets\/cryptography-privacy-and-abortion-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Cryptography, Privacy, and Abortion Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mathematics of Secrets<\/em> doesn’t talk a lot about what you might want to use cryptography for, but one reason is definitely to keep your private life private.\u00a0 The recent Supreme Court ruling allowing states to criminalize abortion and helping others get abortions has driven this home for many people.\u00a0 In my own state of Indiana, a woman in 2015 was charged, convicted and sentenced for \u201cfeticide\u201d when she ended her pregnancy.\u00a0 Texts on the woman’s phone and links in her browser history were part of the evidence against her.<\/a><\/p>\n

There are several ways to use encryption to help avoid this scenario. Before I start, one general note:\u00a0 Don’t save your precautions for critical messages only — that just gives your opponents a red flag that something is up.\u00a0 You don’t have to use secure systems exclusively, but do it often enough so that it doesn’t immediately raise suspicions.\u00a0 (Same with going off-grid; see below.)<\/p>\n

For messaging, I recommend using an app with true “end-to-end” encryption, like Signal<\/a>.\u00a0 Note that not every app that claims to have end-to-end encryption actually does it properly.\u00a0 Make sure that it’s the same<\/strong> encryption all the way from one end to the other, so that not even the messaging service can read your messages.\u00a0 You should also set your messages to disappear automatically\u00a0<\/a>so that they can’t be recovered from your device later.<\/p>\n

For protecting your browser history, start by choosing a browser with good privacy defaults.\u00a0 Brave (which works with almost exactly the same websites and extensions as Chrome), Firefox, and DuckDuckGo (mobile only) are good choices, although there are others.\u00a0 Use “private windows” or “incognito mode” to keep things out of your browser history and cookies, or turn those features off entirely using the browser settings.\u00a0 Note that incognito mode only protects against people searching your computer.\u00a0\u00a0 It does not protect<\/a> against information collectors on the internet such as websites, search engines, or your internet service provider (ISP).<\/p>\n

For that reason, you should consider changing the default search engine on your browser.\u00a0 Unlike Google, DuckDuckGo<\/a> promises not to save information about who you are or what you search for.\u00a0 If they don’t have the information, they can’t reveal it, even in response to a government order.<\/p>\n

For even more security, you might want to purchase a Virtual Private Network, or VPN.\u00a0 (There are free ones, but you tend to get what you pay for.)\u00a0 A VPN encrypts all of the information coming in or out of your computer.\u00a0 It’s not end-to-end; it only encrypts between you and the VPN provider.\u00a0 Then the VPN provider anonymously forwards information back and forth to your final objective.\u00a0 This is good protection if you trust the VPN provider.\u00a0\u00a0 ProtonVPN<\/a> is based in Switzerland, which has strong privacy laws, and they promise not to store any of your data or metadata.\u00a0 (They also have a free version with limited speed and features.)\u00a0 Keep in mind that some communications, like emails, are impossible for the VPN server to deliver anonymously.\u00a0 Web browsing is the ideal thing to protect with a VPN.<\/p>\n

Speaking of email, I would avoid using it for anything sensitive.\u00a0 Many people don’t realize that standard email has no encryption at all and is readable by anyone who can intercept it.\u00a0 If you really need to use email, there are special secure services such as Tutanota<\/a> and Protonmail<\/a>.\u00a0 These generally require both the sender and the receiver to be signed up.<\/p>\n

Finally, remember that some things can’t be solved by encryption.\u00a0 If you are using a cell phone, the only way to completely conceal who and where you are is to use a “burner phone” and throw it away immediately.\u00a0 Even on a secure computer, it’s nearly impossible to completely hide the fact that you exist.\u00a0 As Rose-Hulman professor of computer science Sid Stamm points out<\/a>, if you really want to hide where you are going, leave your phone at home.<\/p>\n