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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

#261
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This principle incriminates the protesters just as much. Yeah but you know, one group _took oath to protect and serve_ and the other didn't. It's like when Trump say some racist shit VS when your drunk uncle says the same thing, you can't put both sides to the same standards. Everybody condemn rioters, but for some reasons a lot of people, including the president and many officials, manage to rationalise police bru…

"This is the kind of thoughts I had when I was 15, I don't even know what to reply to that anymore." And this is the kind of insult I used until I was 12. Either address the argument or don't. Bless us lesser beings with your wisdom. "Don't you have the balls to attach your speech to your semi public internet presence" Pretty easy if all of your opinions are borrowed from others. If you actually consider every issue…

> Either address the argument or don't

I just did and you don't seem to have noticed. Protester never took an oath, the police and the president did, that's all there is to know, stop acting like the riots are the main issue in today's America, that's a pretty small hill to die. Do you think nation wide riots appear out of thin air? Don't you think it's a symptom of a much deeper issue? Do you think people go out everyday to get gassed and beat up for fun and giggles?

There is always a good rule of thumb to estimate on which side of the fight people are, look at the group which has nothing to lose anymore, that's most likely the one which is right.

> This stuff is insane

You know what's insane? Seeing a man being executed by the police on television. Look at the history of black Americans, they never earned anything by sitting in the corner and licking the white man boot. Riots are always a necessary evil.

The only hijacking of the situation I see is people like you trying to make the debate about "is rioting good or bad?" instead of the hundreds of other question you could ask like "why is the president calling for 'domination' of every protests", "why are we seeing hundreds of videos of people being abused by law enforcement?"

> Pretty easy if all of your opinions are borrowed from others.

Man, in what kind of world do you live if you think you have original ideas pure of any influence... Give me a break

> I absolutely would have supported MLK Jr

But what are you doing today? The opposite. It's easy to say "I would have been against slavery back in the days" yeah ok sure, most people say that, most people weren't, and of the one who were most didn't do anything

It's the usual double standard "Tiananmen Square protesters were so brave, the Arab spring revolutions were so beautiful, the end of slavery was good, &c." yet when it happens under your own nose you have officials asking for "no quarters" and send the army in the street to maim and kill

> where the extremist crazy people

Yeah these extremist crazy people asking for the end of systemic racism, police abuse and the death of unarmed people in the hands of the police, they are such vile beasts...

I don't even understand where half of your rant is trying to go, it doesn't really seem to be about the same topic as your original comment so I'll leave it at that.

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

#262

Former Slack employee here... This blog post/case study was published a few years ago by Slack's marketing team and led to a firestorm of controversy within the company. Many employees of all backgrounds spoke up about how upset they were that Slack would use a police department as marketing. Eventually the decision was made to keep it up which certainly frustrated a lot of people. I guess now the leaders have decide…

From a pure marketing perspective, it’s a bad idea to publish things that carry heavy current negatives, making them not good “evergreen” content pieces.

In the same (corporate) sense as publishing a use case about a payday loan company or oil drilling company is a bad idea.

Maybe they will evolve and become better over time - but that doesn’t matter if the current ‘ROI’ is bad. It would be like ‘HODLing’ a falling stock hoping it will one day go up again.

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

#263
post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When most people advocate for divesting, defunding, or abolishing the police, they aren't suggesting that we go without literally any law enforcement. They simply believe the current system is too broken and corrupt to be reformed and that we need to start completely over. These advocates are generally against other avenues of reforms because those reforms can give a false sense of accomplishment without addressing t…

Most people aren't advocating for that though.

That wasn't what I was intending to say so I apologize that my poor phrasing might have given that impression. I used "most people" as a modifier of the group who are advocating for divesting, defunding, or abolishing the police. While that movement is growing, it is still a minority opinion and I wasn't trying to argue otherwise. I included the "most people" phrase mainly as a disclaimer to acknowledge that there are likely some people who want to see police abolished and not replaced, however that is not a common goal.

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

#264

One way techies can affect change is to not do business with the government, particularly law enforcement and military. However, this won't happen, because at the end of the day the only thing people actually care about is money.

> However, this won't happen, because at the end of the day the only thing people actually care about is money.

This won't happen, because at the end of the day Slack Technologies is a public company and their mission is to make their investors money, not cater to the activist cause du jour.

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

#265

One way techies can affect change is to not do business with the government, particularly law enforcement and military. However, this won't happen, because at the end of the day the only thing people actually care about is money.

> However, this won't happen, because at the end of the day the only thing people actually care about is money. This won't happen, because at the end of the day Slack Technologies is a public company and their mission is to make their investors money, not cater to the activist cause du jour.

Yep.

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

#266
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because there is a great deal of sentiment that the approaches used in the United States are excessively militarized, racially unjust and insufficiently transparent. Using a problematic customer like that as a marketing highlight is just not a great idea.

What's the alternative though? Pretending that if you needed protection due to crime coming your way/your family's way... you wouldn't call 911? I feel like this entire movement is really taking away credit from the "ok" and "good" cops. How many cops are there in America? Ok, some of them aren't perfect. They are racist/dicks/thirsty for power. Why does this mean as a citizen I should feel less safe because we want…

> Even if there were 1,000 police brutality related deaths a year

Actually it hovers around 1,000 a year, but even that's up for debate because reporting and data collection are questionable. For example, police departments may have been obligated to report shooting-related deaths, but not choking-related (like George Floyd). But even with the tracking we have today, it's beyond clear that at a minimum ~1,000 American's are killed every year by police.

https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/nationaltrends

> defund police and have less cops protecting us?

There is no reason our civilian police force should be armed like our federal military. It's absurd how many police departments have MRAPs, string-rays, and drones. None of this equipment is necessary for effective civilian policing.

In the U.S., police kill around 46.6 citizens per 10 million every year. Iraq is 45.1, and Iran is 36.6. Compare this to Japan (0.2), Germany (1.3), UK (0.5), France (3.8), Canada (9.7), Poland (0.5), or Australia (1.7).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforc...

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

#267
post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why though? Is there not a legitimate role for policing in a civil society? And if there is, don't they need to coordinate and collaborate just like any other organization?

When most people advocate for divesting, defunding, or abolishing the police, they aren't suggesting that we go without literally any law enforcement. They simply believe the current system is too broken and corrupt to be reformed and that we need to start completely over. These advocates are generally against other avenues of reforms because those reforms can give a false sense of accomplishment without addressing t…

What you are suggesting isn’t a reboot or a reinstall, but a rewrite.

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

#268

Coming from a country where police has been rendered completely toothless by the same policies some people in this country are trying to promote which led to literally lawless areas, I am completely against this movement that's currently for some reason trying to demonize cops. I do not care if you're black, white, asian, gay, lesbian or anything - if you break the law, threaten a police officer, or simply ask comple…

Why is punishment the only way?

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

#269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you tell protecting a house from a mob is bad? Wouldn’t the neighbors have appreciated it not being ransacked and burnt?

Yes, I expect a few on duty officers to protect the house. But this goes well beyond that. How much do you want to twist the logic to make this a justifiable situation?

Are you suggesting that they should instead say "Hey George, we sincerely feel bad for you, but we can't help but let the mob burn down your house, because, you know, we're at a BBQ party weekend. Also your career is entirely over. Good luck."

Honestly I'd rather be surprised if there is any street cop who do not show up.

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

#270

Coming from a country where police has been rendered completely toothless by the same policies some people in this country are trying to promote which led to literally lawless areas, I am completely against this movement that's currently for some reason trying to demonize cops. I do not care if you're black, white, asian, gay, lesbian or anything - if you break the law, threaten a police officer, or simply ask comple…

>I am completely against this movement that's currently for some reason trying to demonize cops.

I think you could dismiss systemic police brutality against minorities a little less frivolously.

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