News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Suicide hotline shares data with for-profit spinoff, raising ethical questions. Parent comment

Re:Suicide hotline shares data with for-profit spinoff, rais... by ReactiveJelly on Friday January 28, 2022 @06:25PM (#30121905)
Trans Lifeline [1] calls that practice "Non-consensual rescue" and they're very strongly against it.

> The organization’s hotline does not engage in non-consensual active rescue,[15] meaning operators never call 911, police, or emergency services on callers without an expressed request and consent, based on research associating involuntary hospitalization with increases suicide attempts after discharge.[16][17] Additionally, they believe that calling the police on transgender people in crisis, particularly trans people of color, causes more harm.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_Lifeline

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Suicide hotline shares data with for-profit spinoff, rais... by cmg on Friday January 28, 2022 @06:35PM (#30121996)
Former Technology Director for TL here - I maintained and deeply extended their hotline software. We took confidentiality and anonymity very, very seriously. Operators never, ever see the phone number of the caller, and vice versa. Only admins can even look up a caller by phone number. There were other technical measures as well, but I'm not going to give them up in a public forum, hope that's understandable.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Suicide hotline shares data with for-profit spinoff, rais... by ketzo on Friday January 28, 2022 @06:46PM (#30122102)
Just wanna say thank you for your work.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Suicide hotline shares data with for-profit spinoff, rais... by cmg on Friday January 28, 2022 @06:53PM (#30122160)
Thank you, ketzo. Unfortunately I'm no longer with the org and can't say for sure that they wouldn't ever try to do something like this. I'm working with a new group now on open source peer support software that also values privacy.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Suicide hotline shares data with for-profit spinoff, rais... by jacquesm on Saturday January 29, 2022 @04:05AM (#30124934)
That is an excellent qualification to make. You only know as much as you've seen and what happens after you turn your back is hopefully more of the same or better but that is no guarantee. Kudos for seeing this sharp.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Suicide hotline shares data with for-profit spinoff, rais... by gjsman-1000 on Friday January 28, 2022 @06:35PM (#30122004)
Can't help but have flashbacks to The Incredibles where Mr. Incredible was sued by a person he saved from suicide because that was involuntary...
[ Parent | on HN ]