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Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

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Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#61
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is what's becoming apparent right now, yes. I was more of an "a few bad apples" person until this week. But they're making it extremely clear that as a faction they have no regard for anything or anyone but their own power and bravado.

This principle incriminates the protesters just as much. There is widespread rationalization and support for the "few bad apples" perpetrating violence/looting/burning/rioting. There is very little condemnation. Lots of quoting MLK Jr. "rioting is the voice of the unheard" and yet MLK Jr. certainly did not practice or advocate violence. If the protesters can't regulate their own bad apples then how can they judge pol…

> If the protesters can't regulate their own bad apples then how can they judge police for not being able to?

Police are hired by a system, trained on constitutional law, trained in law enforcement technique, take an oath to enforce the law (including the constitution and the public trust), are paid money for their on duty actions, and have a system of discipline and internal review.

What the protestors have in common right now is that people showed up at a place and at a time. Protestors have a right to assemble, they inherently have little right to inhibit an anarchist from protesting at the same location without breaking laws or even a holier than thou ethics. That the press have captured intentional subversion by white supremacists, boogaloos, and even police furthers this false dichotomy.

Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#62
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few years ago I would've thought thought that was an overreaction (assuming police were just using it as customers, and not something like surveillance). This week, I no longer feel that way.

Honest foreigner question: are all US police that "stinky" that any association with them is now bad, or is it an overreaction? Surely there are good police departments, ones that work with the community and not against them? But maybe I'm not seeing it from the perspective of those black employees...

I suspect any police force that is sufficiently large and has militarized and "riot" gear will tend to have similar problems. I'm sure that small town police departments have much more variation in their patterns of behavior.

Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#63
Are we saying that:

(a) police are a net good, but slack is aiding/encouraging particular bad behaviors; or

(b) police are a net bad and we should just deny them anything that enables them to do their jobs; or

(c) police are a net good, but it's bad PR to associate with them

Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#64
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is what's becoming apparent right now, yes. I was more of an "a few bad apples" person until this week. But they're making it extremely clear that as a faction they have no regard for anything or anyone but their own power and bravado.

I mean "a few bad apples spoil the bunch" is the full phrase, so... I guess that's what we're all seeing.

And even those that aren't "spoiled" (in the sense of committing atrocities themselves) still tolerate and provide cover for those who do. It's an entire culture of suck.

Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#65
post #17

I don’t get it. Are we now advocating that police is overall more of a force of evil than good? Legitimate question.

> I don’t get it. Are we now advocating that police is overall more of a force of evil than good? Legitimate question. Police, in the abstract, are still a force for good. But it's becoming clear to more and more people that the police we actually have commit an intolerable quantity of evil acts.

If your city had a ballot initiative to defund and disband the police department, would you vote for it?

EDIT: I'm a little confused about the downvotes. If the answer is "no", then what's the problem with police using slack? Isn't it just a basic tool for communication? Is selling them radios also bad? I should also say that my answer in my city would be "no".

Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing the CEO is not anti-money.

Also, he probably cant legally not let police departments use it, it's publically traded.

Largely a company can choose their customers; they’re not forced to transact with anyone. There are some exceptions of course, largely based on the reasons for not transacting. Being publicly traded doesn’t really matter here directly.

Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#67
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, and then they also manage to convince themselves (and their supporters) that they're the victims, because they do dangerous work/their colleagues get shot, and the "they" they are facing are all dangerous Jason Bourne-esque assassins...

I recently have been learning how deadly Policing is in comparison to other jobs and it came as a surprise to me: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/01/28/chart...

In reality it's an absolute dogshit job. The hours are long, there's a very real chance of PTSD or bodily harm, and they haze you worse than bootcamp. LAPD has a problem recruiting since everyone who is level headed enough to make a good cop sees it rightly as this horrible job.

Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#68
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, he probably cant legally not let police departments use it, it's publically traded.

Why would being publicly traded keep them from choosing their customers?

I assumed that it's his/their fiduciary duty to maximize profit, and if the current excutive team doesnt do that, they will be replaced with a team that will.

Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#69

I don’t get it. Are we now advocating that police is overall more of a force of evil than good? Legitimate question.

I don't know how you could look at the events of the past week and come to any other conclusion.

Someone can be quite concerned by police violence and brutality, but still view them as essential for a stable society. (The advocates of reforming police organizations go in this bucket)

Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#70
post #33
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. Why is it caused by DNS over https?

Because the archive.is operator returns bad results when queried by Cloudflare. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19828702

Any idea when this pissing match will be resolved?

I spend 8-12 hours online every day and have only ever seen this issue with that one website.

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