News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on One Piece of Flock Camera Data Put This Innocent Woman in Jail for 13 Days. Parent comment

Re:One Piece of Flock Camera Data Put This Innocent Woman in... by atoav on Saturday September 26, 2026 @04:20AM (#49854367)
The technology is not a neutral thing here. Automation bias¹ exists and is especially problematic in this context.

And if your country happens to have a police force that is historically bad at its job, giving them that power seems like a really stupid idea.

¹: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automation_bias

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:One Piece of Flock Camera Data Put This Innocent Woman in... by newtonsmethod on Saturday September 26, 2026 @07:20AM (#49855458)
I very much agree with what you say on automation bias.

Certain technology just has too much potential to be misused / people repeatedly prove they can't use it properly. It also comes with risks of making authoritarian takeover easier.

However, here, it seems they used Flock a bit like a regular ANPR. The actions they took independent of Flock show there are better stories to use to criticise this technology.

[ Parent | on HN ]