We want Texans to know their rights
215 points by amarcheschi 2 days ago | 73 comments
  • pton_xd 2 days ago |
    "Last May, EFF reported that a sheriff’s office in Texas searched data from more than 83,000 automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras to track down a woman suspected of self-managing an abortion."

    These people really have nothing better to do?

    • jkahrs595 2 days ago |
      They literally think they are doing the work of some divine creator. They have plenty of time to ruin the lives of other people because they think it saves their own.
      • estearum a day ago |
        Really insightful comment. Couldn't agree more.

        And many of these people really do need their Good Works on the force to do the saving, because God knows what they do to their wives and kids back home.

    • monksy 2 days ago |
      I've got distant family members in law enforcement. They brag about the reach of their equipment to surveil. Yes, they enjoy being overly suspicious.
      • estearum 2 days ago |
        Suspicious? The word is abusive. Of the law, of their uniform, of their fellow citizens.
    • nine_k 2 days ago |
      They have a law to enforce. The law enforcement activity is as good as the law :(
      • JoshTriplett 2 days ago |
        "I was just enforcing the law" is no better than "I was just following orders".
      • BigTTYGothGF 2 days ago |
        Every minute spent tracking down a lady getting an abortion is a minute not spent tracking down a murderer or a rapist or similar.
        • andsoitis 2 days ago |
          > getting an abortion is a minute not spent tracking down a murderer

          but see, there are people who believe abortion is murder, and perhaps one of the worst forms of murder because of its victim’s extreme innocence since it has not caused any harm in this world.

        • ai_critic 2 days ago |
          (amazing username.)

          You assume that a lady getting an abortion is not committing murder--these folks clearly think she is.

          (We don't need to argue about whether it is in fact murder, or whether if it is that the murder is justified or not--just understand that there are people that believe differently, and apparently they're willing to expend police resources on it.)

          • JoshTriplett 2 days ago |
            > We don't need to argue about whether it is in fact murder

            That's exactly the problem: we do. Not here, specifically, but if someone's false beliefs have grown to the point that they are hurting others over them, they need to be stopped.

            • Joker_vD 2 days ago |
              Do you not realize that this argument applies equally well both against pro-choice and against pro-lifers? It does, therefore it is entirely invalid and irrelevant.

              Yes, those people with "false beliefs". Ah, if only we could force everyone to have true beliefs. And it's not against freedom of thought and consciousness, oh no! We're only against actually false beliefs. That, you know, have been proven wrong. Or at least for which the proofs of incorrectness exist that we believe are correct. But since our beliefs true, this is fine.

              • lern_too_spel a day ago |
                He said nothing about forcing. Suppose the false belief he was talking about was Creationism. Does his comment read as authoritarian?
                • Joker_vD a day ago |
                  Yes, it does.
                  • JoshTriplett a day ago |
                    It's fascinating that you are attempting to portray a comment as authoritarian that is arguing people should not enforce their false beliefs on others and should not restrict their bodily autonomy. It's literally an argument against being authoritarian.
                    • bit-anarchist a day ago |
                      What I understood their point to be is that the only reason they are "false beliefs" is your own biases. If they aren't actual "false beliefs", then the restrictions on bodily autonomy are as justified as when dealing with killings, and your argument degenerates into pro-authoritarism.
        • nine_k 2 days ago |
          As I said, the law is the problem. Since the law demands to track and investigate ladies suspected of destruction of embryos inside their own bodies, the police's direct job is to do just that, even to the detriment of other activities.

          The police themselves may consider it stupid and counterproductive, but their opinion does not count until the next elections.

          • Joker_vD 2 days ago |
            The universality of "I want the rule of law!.. unless I dislike the laws, of course" stance is truly depressing. I swear, were it not for rather strict ground-level prohibitions in the constitutions, we'd all went back to allegedly enlightened monarchies ages ago. Perhaps we yet all will, things really are looking quite peculiar around the world right now.
      • 8note 2 days ago |
        within the US context, the government isnt allowed to just have any law it wants, and it isnt allowed yo enforce laws that breach individual rights
    • godwinson__4-8 2 days ago |
      There is no rest for the wicked.
    • cucumber3732842 2 days ago |
      >These people really have nothing better to do?

      Making examples out of some number of unlucky peasants over otherwise trivial deviance that harms nearly nobody is one of the key jobs of men at arms.

      Now, they may spend more time on "real crime" or collecting taxes by other names, but make no mistake this sort of stuff is stuff they (as an agency) must do if they are to properly serve the interests of their master.

    • dodger-dog 2 days ago |
      Seems like sheriff was searching for missing person. Was concern about her welfare and mental health, thus the use of the cameras. You can buy Mifepristone at CVS, Target, Walgreen's and the like. I don't think they were trying to track which CVS she was going to.

      The article is misleading, but that should never get in the way of righteous rage that helps a person form identity and purpose in an otherwise existential and empty vacuum of meaning.

    • paytonjjones 2 days ago |
      > from more than 83,000 automated license plate reader

      This feels purposefully misleading. Did they manually watch hours and hours of footage, or is this the equivalent of "I searched an online corpus of hundreds of millions of documents" (I Googled it)

      • cosmicgadget 2 days ago |
        Doesn't feel misleading at all, "searched data from" is pretty much your "I Googled it" without branding.

        The inclusion of 83,000 seems more intended to quantify the scope of the surveillance accessible to these sheriffs.

      • morkalork 2 days ago |
        Sure, call it that. They Googled it on their comperensive, nation-wide, unlimited access, fully indexed and integrated surveillance network (with 83,000 edge nodes)
  • Trasmatta 2 days ago |
    It's no longer safe to even use a period tracking app in many US states now. The women I know are all cautioning each other to go back to pen and paper, and ditch anything app based.
    • jmclnx 2 days ago |
      Most of us here knows ways around this, but many people are not educated.

      One method is get off your smart phone and boot tails and do the searches there. Maybe that is something EFF can make known. Like list trusted onion sites that have information where women can go and get help.

      • dodger-dog 2 days ago |
        You boot tails to track your period?
    • jonhohle 2 days ago |
      Apple offers this in Health and it stays on device or encrypted in backups. I’m not sure why anyone would want this in the cloud.
    • Cider9986 2 days ago |
      Correct and you shouldn't use any health apps that don't take your privacy seriously.

      Here are privacy respecting ones: https://www.privacyguides.org/en/health-and-wellness/#menstr...

  • throwawalien 2 days ago |
    wild that it took abortion for people to notice. the same cameras have been feeding ICE lookups across 5,000+ towns, quietly, for the last couple years
    • t-writescode 2 days ago |
      Education is often best achieved through spaced repetition and cross-discipline integration, especially with the intent of connecting something with someone’s personal life to sink it deeper.

      A single news article ever, or 1000 news articles that don’t impact “you specifically” are less effective than measured repetition across multiple fronts.

  • belviewreview 2 days ago |
    One reason the government surveillance is important is I've read there is a growing movement among the right-to-lifers to hold women who abort criminally liable.
  • stackghost 2 days ago |
    If rights can be capriciously and arbitrarily curtailed by armed agents of the state while effete judges yeet sternly-worded letters into the void, then those "rights" are worth about as much as the USA's signature on an international treaty. Which is to say, nothing.
    • Joker_vD 2 days ago |
      I don't know if you've ever read any Bill/Declaration of Rights, but they all have "this right shall not be violated unless the law allows it" provisions. Many of them even have "oh, and requiring state licensing to exercise such right is not violating it" provisions (see e.g. "This Article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises" in Article 10 of ECHR).
    • impish9208 a day ago |
      > …while effete judges yeet sternly-worded letters into the void…

      You, sir, have a way with words.

      • stackghost a day ago |
        In going to choose to take this as a compliment :)
  • belZaah 2 days ago |
    We had a lady down here in Estonia working for police. She used their extensive databases for non-work related reasons and got, very publicly, fired. She decided to appeal and lost. Through all levels of court up to the EU one. So for years, there would be a newspaper headline “remember that person who invaded your privacy? Still guilty”. Could not wish for a more impactful public execution.
  • hnburnsy 21 hours ago |
    >We want Texans to know their rights

    Unless they are on X.