News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by cm2012 on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @12:44PM (#40225760)
Huge huge fan of increased surveillance in public places. The reason is that it's pretty well proven that likelihood of getting caught for crimes is much better at deterrence than severity of sentence. By enforcing crimes more consistently, we can actually reduce incarceration.
Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by svieira on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @12:55PM (#40225929)
And I am a huge opponent of it because anything that can be used to track criminals can be used to track everyone. And if everyone is a criminal (imagine the-other-guy getting control of the system) then you are not actually deterring anyone, simply ensuring that whoever-is-on-the-outside is going to get the law coming down on them hard while whoever-is-on-the-inside will get let go in spite of direct evidence of their misdeeds being streamed to the cloud 24x7x365.
Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by pixl97 on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @03:05PM (#40227805)
Yea, that's how states like Texas on their current path to fundamentalist jihad end up making database of women that may possibly be pregnant and busting them when the get close to the state line.
Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by infecto on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @12:57PM (#40225971)
I am in a similar boat. I appreciate that there is opposition so that we can keep a balance but I am pro surveillance as well. There is potential for abuse but I also recognize that as a regions population increases, sometimes you have to conform to things to create a stable society.

I would love a national ID that I could use everywhere. Again ripe for abuse but I can see the benefits outweighing the negatives.

Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by itsanaccount on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @01:11PM (#40226170)
I believe in people getting exactly the government they deserve. Just so long as its regionally voted for (which excludes national ID), you should definitely go and live there.

I myself will stay far away from any Leopards Eating People's Faces Party areas and their "stable society."

Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by infecto on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @01:17PM (#40226245)
>I believe in people getting exactly the government they deserve. Just so long as its regionally voted for (which excludes national ID), you should definitely go and live there.

>I myself will stay far away from any Leopards Eating People's Faces Party areas and their "stable society."

And here is a prime example of why discourse is so hard in the modern era. Please don't create outrage where none exists. Please don't bring politics into something that is not political.

As society progresses its harder to just go with the flow and not have different types of regulation. You would expect everyone to be a rational actor, but they are not. There is a minimum level of conformity required for most functioning societies.

Happy that people disagree with my take on public surveillance but disappointed with your sense of false outrage and brashness. It so sad this is what pollutes so much of our information and discourse.

Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by all2well on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @02:04PM (#40226914)
Surveillance, in public, run by the government, is _not_ a political issue?
Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by infecto on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @02:19PM (#40227102)
It is political in so much that it is something that should be decided by the people voting and case law. Lets be honest, thats not what I meant though and you should see that. Both sides are unfortunately polarized in their commentary as exampled by the poster I replied to. Instead of it being a discussion about privacy it devolved immediately into a go live somewhere else and throwing in a republican reference. Thats bringing in the wrong kind of politics into the conversation but lets ignore that. I identify with neither party and find it depressing when people are so polarized by either side, it becomes an immediate them vs us conversation.
Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by johnmaguire on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @03:31PM (#40228207)
I'm not sure your argument has the moral superiority you think it has.

Nobody is "creating outrage where none exists" nor are they bringing "politics into something that is not political."

We're discussing public policy around surveillance and many of us disagree with your position.

BTW, the term "Leopards Eating People's Faces Party" refers to a lot more than just Republicans - it was commonly used against Brexit supporters, as one example: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/leopards-eating-peoples-faces...

Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by Clubber on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @04:47PM (#40229194)
>BTW, the term "Leopards Eating People's Faces Party" refers to a lot more than just Republicans

I stopped watching politics about 5 years ago and I constantly have to fight my YouTube feed to keep it out. I've never heard that term and I'm glad I don't know what it means. It shows the political deprogramming is finally happening.

Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by infecto on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @04:51PM (#40229244)
I am not so sure you understood my point. But I get it, we all have our biases.
Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by staticshock on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @01:32PM (#40226468)
I see quite a bit more false outrage in your statements than in the ones you're replying to. Also, on what grounds do you consider your position to be apolitical? Self-evidence?
Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by infecto on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @02:03PM (#40226900)
To each their own. I am far from outraged but I guess it depends what biased lens you look at it through.

Why does a position need to be political? Of course in modern US politics, party lines are stronger than ever and by identifying strongly with a party you generally identify with certain positions. But I don't believe its true that to have a position or view of the world means you have a political position. Being political, and outraged for that matter, happens when you tell someone to go somewhere else to live or explicitly bring (by naming) politics into a discussion.

I like the idea of having cameras everywhere, along with the idea that I like all police to wear cameras to hold everyone in the interaction accountable.

Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by grraaaaahhh on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @02:18PM (#40227080)
>Why does a position need to be political?

Mass surveillance involves giving the government, an inherently political entity, and its partners in the private sector increased power over public life. It's hard to get a more political issue than that.

Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by infecto on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @02:21PM (#40227129)
I will give up here, its political in that it involves a political entity. Its depressing that the original comment jumped to "republicans are bad" logic so quickly. I understand your bias, its immediately noticeable in all of those republican subreddits as well.
Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by jltsiren on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @02:50PM (#40227588)
It's the topic of the discussion that makes something political, not the position or the attitude. If you are talking about the affairs of the society, if you are assuming the role of a citizen (rather than a private individual), you being political.
Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by infecto on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @07:02PM (#40230675)
Oh stop it. You know what I meant, don’t be coy. The person I replied to is a clown for just saying “republicans are bad mmmkay”. I am not a republican but it’s a silly response and quite tiresome.
Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by itsanaccount on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @10:24PM (#40232111)
Leopards Eating Peoples Faces Party is a reference to the commonality of people to vote for some group to have power over others, in this case to take away their privacy via technological means, and then be surprised when that power is inevitably used against them.

Has nothing to do with Republicans. I have a problem with most power at a fundamental level. I largely side with the animals who I think should be armed to bring balance back to the world.

Might want to slow your dismissal of who exactly disagrees with you.

Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by infecto on Thursday May 02, 2024 @02:19AM (#40233243)
If I am wrong I am wrong but your language was low brow enough for me that it’s easy to misinterpret. Apologies. I am glad I get to live in America and you get to live where you do!
Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by flawsofar on Thursday May 02, 2024 @02:14PM (#40239589)
“Your use of flippant and glib language invalidates your points and my country is the best”
Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by itsanaccount on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @02:05PM (#40226923)
Its not politics insomuch as its a theory of organized society. You believe in a system of control. You make a claim that control is necessary for you to be protected from irrational actors.

Instead of argue with you, because I do really think that's a hard and in depth argument, I'm telling you about those like me who don't believe control is necessary for society. So much so that I think you should be able to disagree with me, and the only limiting factor here is land/area/which society.

I predict that you will fall victim to the control you want to protect you, and can think of no better way to prove my argument than have you live it.

Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by infecto on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @02:14PM (#40227021)
Typical response unfortunately. Why even stoop to such a low level of throwing shade when you have nothing intelligent to add to the matter?
Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by u32480932048 on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @09:45PM (#40231891)
Some people find the idea of circumventing rights (by leasing data from private companies that they'd otherwise be prohibited from collecting) outrageous. I'd also assume most people consider civil rights to be a key political issue.

You don't get to trample all over civil rights and then accuse the other side of "making it political".

Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by infecto on Thursday May 02, 2024 @02:02AM (#40233159)
Is government not allowed to put cameras in public places? Is government not allowed to collect use data from public places? I have not heard of any challenges on those grounds so is it really circumventing?

So by supporting the idea of both cameras recording in public spaces and the ability to collect data off those cameras, you’re trampling all over civil rights?

Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by u32480932048 on Monday May 06, 2024 @07:55AM (#40273551)
I'm no constitutional law expert, but Dragnets Bad, Warrants Good. See also: [1]

Whether the trampling is done by the one wearing the boot, the one cheering it on, or some combination of both is only of academic interest. The anti-due-process attitude is contrary to some of the most fundamental tenets of our legal system.

Q: If it weren't ethically dubious and of questionable constitutionality, why not just put cameras in the intersections themselves (which The Government certainly controls), rather than leasing spots on private lots adjacent to them? Why not extract this data from extant highway cameras (which The Government can surely access for free)?

A: Because, like a masked cartoon burglar hiding in the bushes, they don't want the public to know what they're doing, because they know what they're doing is Bad.

  [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/22/us/politics/dia-surveillance-data.html
Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by perhonen on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @04:29PM (#40228959)
nah i'll take the crime thanks
Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by rpgwaiter on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @02:24PM (#40227171)
Ya know what also deters crimes? Having your needs met. I bet the money spent towards this spying apparatus could have been spent on housing programs, education, healthcare.

Nah, lets give it to a company to make it easier to punish people.

Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by cm2012 on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @06:58PM (#40230654)
The evidence for this hypothesis is not great
Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by brokenmachine on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @10:01PM (#40231975)
Panopticon cameras are cheap, and jails are profitable.
Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by NoMoreNicksLeft on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @01:03PM (#40226066)
We can also expand what is considered a crime too. Without the cameras, cost/benefit just makes it impossible to enforce some tyrannical edicts, but if we all live in a fishbowl monitored by computers whose machine learning can flag nearly any activity, wow, just think of the possibilities. We don't even need to formally punish these, some interest group will just call up your employers and suggest very strongly that it would embarrass them deeply if they continued to employ you.
Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by mrguyorama on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @04:07PM (#40228676)
Cops have not demonstrated that access to more surveillance actually helps them catch more people. Meanwhile they still keep getting caught on their own bodycams dropping "evidence" like a bag of cocaine (where did the cop get that I wonder....) to screw innocent people over, at least when they aren't doing it with the bodycam off.

In fact, despite massive increases to surveillance tech, including cops having the location of anyone's cell phone whenever they want it thanks to private companies that are allowed to sell such data to cops with pretty much no limits, even though the cops themselves are not supposed to have such data, the clearance rate for violent crime is abysmal, 30ish percent.

Meanwhile property crime clearance rates are EVEN LOWER, at about 12%.

We don't even keep good stats about white collar crime meanwhile...

Before we give the cops more toys to harass us with, can we at least make them demonstrate they actually use the tools they have? Right now cops demonstrably do not do their jobs.

Re:Flock Safety is the biggest player in a city-by-city scra... by tenebrisalietum on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @01:03PM (#40226069)
The statement "By enforcing crimes more consistently, we can actually reduce incarceration" sounds logical and reasonable, but actually isn't necessarily true unless A and B below are also true.

A. Actions that are considered crimes do not change over time.

B. Incentives to catch and prosecute crimes are not KPIed based on incarceration rates.