WeeklyTech #146

How should we view privacy in a post-Roe world?

In the weeks following the historic Dobbs decision, a good bit of misinformation has been propagated concerning what many pro-life laws across the nation actually do in protecting the life of the preborn and caring for vulnerable women in crisis. Along with this misinformation about the devastation of ectopic pregnancies and lamentable instances where the physical life of the mother is at risk, there has also been a torrent of speculative musings about the dystopian society we will now inhabit in a post-Roe context. As the ripple effects of this life-saving court decision continue to be felt throughout our society and as many states are enacting new laws concerning the practice of abortion, one aspect of the debate might surprise some who have followed the pro-life movement over the last 49 years.

Since the Dobbs ruling, opinion piecesTwitter threads, and a host of comments from privacy scholars have raised the alarm and generated wildly speculative notions about the dangers to personal data privacy in a country without Roe. Even the White House Director of Gender Policy Jen Klein has urged caution on the grounds of data privacy for millions of Americans, though the actual details of her comments and other reporting on the matter often do not coincide with the clickbait headlines.


States’ fight over abortion information catches tech in crossfire – Ina Fried | Axios

With reproductive rights in flux across the U.S., activists on both sides of the issue are using the uncertainty to pressure tech companies to change the way abortion information gets shared and labeled.

🔒Classic Internet Censorship – Shira Ovide | New York Times

New Regulations in Indonesia show that strict online controls are no longer confined to autocratic countries like China.

It’s Time for a Federal Privacy Law That Works in Today’s Digital Ecosystem – Shane Tews | AEI

Consumers often don’t understand how much data is collected on them or what businesses intend to do with that data. This may change soon if the bipartisan American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA)—passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee in late July—is enacted into law this Congress.

The morality of the Hellfire – Marc LiVecche | WORLD

Over the last two decades, remote piloted aircraft like the Reaper—and its predecessor the Predator—became signature weapons of the war against terror. Christians should be glad they did.

TikTok Moderators Are Being Trained Using Graphic Images Of Child Sexual Abuse – Alexandra S. Levine | Forbes

A largely unsecured cache of pictures of children being sexually exploited has been made available to third-party TikTok content moderators as a reference guide, former contractors say.