Arrest warrant issued for ex-Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones • Hacker News Board

Re: Arrest warrant issued for ex-Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones

#121

Post by LocalH » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 5:15 PM UTC

>After she was fired, Jones started her own online COVID-19 dashboard. But she said Saturday that she may no longer be allowed access to computers, the internet or other electronic devices as a condition of her release from jail pending trial.

In the modern day, with so much that is online or involving computers, this should be considered unjust punishment, the likes of which should be reserved only for child molesters.

Not speaking to the rest of the story. However, this by itself troubles me.

Re: Arrest warrant issued for ex-Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones

#122

Post by chmaynard » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 5:17 PM UTC

This comment thread is an example of social media at its absolute worst. Have an opinion? Big deal, everyone has an opinion. My advice is to keep it to yourself.

Re: Arrest warrant issued for ex-Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones

#123

Post by wbl » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 5:18 PM UTC

orangecat wrote: post #51

ineedasername wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the whole point of this thing: You're pointing to Florida's numbers and assuming "no bungling". This person arrested is alleging that Florida has been fudging the numbers to make their situation look much better than it is.

This person arrested is alleging that Florida has been fudging the numbers to make their situation look much better than it is. Except she's not. Here's the dashboard that she set up after being fired: https://floridacovidaction.com/ . And here's the official state data: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/96dd742462124fa0b38... . The numbers are virtually identical. There is exactly as much evidence for the cla…

Florida was falsifying data, got caught, and stopped.

Re: Arrest warrant issued for ex-Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones

#124

Post by nix23 » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 5:20 PM UTC

fdschoeneman wrote: post #112

nix23 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I think doing data scientist work makes you a data scientist Then we just hope you Surgeon is not like that, and has at least a degree in Medicine.

I get what you're saying, but is a hospital likely to employ a surgeon without a degree in medicine?

Well in Pakistan the do that with Pilots without a license ;) But beeing Cern your Data Scientist is probably a Particle-physicist or a Scientific-Programmer, and so on...

Re: Arrest warrant issued for ex-Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones

#125

Post by MereInterest » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 5:22 PM UTC

isoskeles wrote: post #114

elmomle wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only person who put those children at risk was the mother who refused to cooperate with a legally signed warrant. Wow, let's extend that reasoning just a bit further. If someone SWATs me (or pulls strings to get a warrant for my arrest), and I don't open the door immediately, I bear the responsibility for putting my family at risk?

Immediately? She had over 20 minutes of knocking and a few phone calls in that period. People should watch the video and think about how long of a time 20 minutes is. They’ll most likely even find it boring and start skipping ahead to more knocking without a response.

> She had over 20 minutes of knocking and a few phone calls in that period.

So what? If somebody is knocking on my door, in the middle of the night, claiming to be a police officer, then making phone calls to verify that is 100% reasonable. If I had just been fired for politically motivated reasons, then making phone calls to alert the media when your home is being raided is 100% reasonable.

> They’ll most likely even find it boring and start skipping ahead to more knocking without a response.

Police are allowed to be bored. Police are allowed to sit outside a house and wait. It does them no harm, and does not justify them using additional force when serving the warrant.

Re: Arrest warrant issued for ex-Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones

#126

Post by overscore » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 5:24 PM UTC

mdoms wrote: post #116

xibalba wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have few hard facts, how are you evaluating the justification for raiding her home?

I'd suggest you have a look at how policing is done outside of USA. A raid on someone's home is almost never justified - it would take highly exceptional circumstances to make a "normal" police force perform like that.

Raids are common in almost every European country - which in general have "normal" police forces - where the police believe someone might destroy evidence.

Re: Arrest warrant issued for ex-Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones

#127

Post by xibalba » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 5:24 PM UTC

eganist wrote: post #79

xibalba wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which of those degrees qualifies her as a data scientist capable of contravening WHO recommendations? Moreover, she is repeatedly referred to in the press as a data scientist, but all accounts of her actual work are that of a dashboard developer. Having done both myself, I can attest that they are very different types of work warranting very different training.

> Which of those degrees qualifies her as a data scientist capable of contravening WHO recommendations? Literally all of her research involved gathering and communicating relevant insights from vast and disparate data sets, which is the role you just described. > Having done both myself, I can attest that they are very different types of work warranting very different training. She's educated as a data scientist spec…

> She's educated as a data scientist specific to a given field.

> [data scientist] is the role you just described.

No. She's not a data scientist and she herself doesn't even make this claim [1] Her job titles were: 1) GIS Analyst and 2) Geographic Information Systems Manager. Both are systems/dev roles. Clearly, neither is a position from which one is qualified to contravene the WHO.

Her degrees (per her own LinkedIn page) are in Geography. Take a look at the degree requirements at Syracuse (which offers both a BA and a BS (Jones earned the BA option)) [2] and LSU [3]. Next, go look at a few DS job postings and tell me the requirements are aligned (they are not).

I'm sure Jones is smart. I'm sure Jones is well versed in Geography. But she's not a data scientist. Even if she were, her skills and experience would not qualify her to overrule WHO guidance.

[1] https://www.linkedin.com/in/stormjones/ [2] http://coursecatalog.syr.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=3&po... [3] https://lsu.edu/ga/programs/msgeography.php

Re: Arrest warrant issued for ex-Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones

#128

Post by wl » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 5:25 PM UTC

spoonjim wrote: post #119

xibalba wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have few hard facts, how are you evaluating the justification for raiding her home?

In some countries, a surprise raid of your home means “we think you have hostages in your basement” or something at that level.

You're going to see surprise raids in any country whenever the police believe there's evidence to be found that would be destroyed or tampered with if the suspect had advance notice.

Re: Arrest warrant issued for ex-Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones

#129

Post by clcuc » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 5:28 PM UTC

MisterBastahrd wrote: post #3

How many other instances are out there where authorities "can't say what someone is charged with" until they're in custody. This smells like a CYA deal with DeSantis and his partisan bungling of the COVID crisis.

What does CYA mean in this context? Sorry about the ignorance.

Re: Arrest warrant issued for ex-Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones

#130

Post by SpicyLemonZest » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 5:30 PM UTC

MereInterest wrote: post #125

isoskeles wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Immediately? She had over 20 minutes of knocking and a few phone calls in that period. People should watch the video and think about how long of a time 20 minutes is. They’ll most likely even find it boring and start skipping ahead to more knocking without a response.

> She had over 20 minutes of knocking and a few phone calls in that period. So what? If somebody is knocking on my door, in the middle of the night, claiming to be a police officer, then making phone calls to verify that is 100% reasonable. If I had just been fired for politically motivated reasons, then making phone calls to alert the media when your home is being raided is 100% reasonable. > They’ll most likely eve…

It was a sunny morning, not the middle of the night. Obviously that's a minor detail, but it's indicative of a larger problem - there's been a big game of telephone on the actual circumstances of this raid, so your mental image of what happened may be different than what the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of7ITokML-A) shows.