"Eva," you ask, "What does good, practical digital privacy advice for abortion-seekers look like if I'm not supposed to tell them to download Tails?"

It looks like this: https://digitaldefensefund.org/ddf-guides/abortion-privacy

Guide to Abortion Privacy — Digital Defense Fund

Digital Defense Fund

@evacide How to scream from the rooftop "I have never studied human behavior," without saying a darn thing.

Like, the POINT of a threat model, is to grok that NOT everything needs Tails—and that stupid-simple opsec goes a LONG way!!!

@ninavizz @evacide Tails IS stupid simple SecOps. It covers multiple threat types under a single system that you would normally have to address independently. It's not even difficult to use. Grab a USB, write an image, reboot while holding a key, select the right thing in the menu and voila. It even had a Windows XP interface option if you aren't familiar with Linux.

What more could you want? It's literally designed for this type of scenario.

@areyouevenreal @ninavizz @evacide Sorry, do you really expect an ordinary abortion-seeker to do all that for something as basic as privacy? Like sure, people like you and me can actually take the time to understand Tails and how to use it. But seriously. Most abortion-seekers will not do this.
@shreyan @ninavizz @evacide You're trying to escape government surveillance here. Given that's your aim this method is shockingly simple. It's almost trivial to anyone with a reasonable understanding of computers. I used to do stuff like this almost every day.

@areyouevenreal @ninavizz @evacide

Not everyone has a "reasonable understanding of computers", and it's somewhat arrogant (not sure if that's the word I was looking for) to require them to.

@shreyan @areyouevenreal @ninavizz @evacide so much ^

I _am_ an expert computer user and "just install tails" advice screams techbro incoherence.

90% of the target for that suggestion would respond with: what's an image? my phone doesn't have USB? how do I hold a key while rebooting my iPhone?

the linked article is good advice. don't let "better than good, but also masturbatory privacy geekery" be the enemy of "good"

@woodlandsquid @shreyan @ninavizz @evacide I have made separate recommendations for people who only have iPhone or Android phones. I think this is a minority of people though.

I can't see in any way recommending Tails is incoherent unless you're talking to the technologically illiterate. The tech illiterate wouldn't follow the guide either though, because I doubt they are going to use a VPB correctly either. Onion Browser is better in this regard as it's just one app and doesn't keep history.

@areyouevenreal It's TMI, is the point. My god, have you NEVER had an existential, highly emotional crisis that has you puking multiple times a day, out of your mind on hormones, and could mean losing your family AND your partner... but ohey, lets all go do all this strange new technology stuff that I don't understand the point of, too?

@woodlandsquid @shreyan @evacide

@ninavizz
Then why make technological recommendations at all?
Surly the best advice is leave the country or the state to somewhere that supports abortions and then worry about it.
That would be my first advice to someone in this situation.
Cause if use Tor or use Tails is too much, then following everything in that article to the letter is also TMI.
You can presumably get to another state on a bus or car. (Am not American so feel free to correct me)
@woodlandsquid @shreyan @evacide

@areyouevenreal @ninavizz @woodlandsquid @evacide

Look, don't take this personally, but you really managed to outdo yourself with this one somehow

@shreyan @ninavizz @woodlandsquid @evacide There must be something here I don't get. I would have thought that someone in this situation would have to go somewhere where abortions are legal eventually anyway.

Can you tell me what I am not understanding?

@areyouevenreal Intensely human situations are hard to understand through internet conversation. Women fundraise like MAD from friends and family, to get abortions—which is what LEOs look to intercept. Have you never read the threat model? I suggest you do some googling to learn stories of poor women desperate for abortions, to learn what they were up against and what resource they had. Many have died. @shreyan @woodlandsquid @evacide
@ninavizz @shreyan @woodlandsquid @evacide I didn't know there was an official threat model. I will consider this and look into it more.