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Citizen’s dangerous effort to cash in on vigilantism

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Re: Citizen’s dangerous effort to cash in on vigilantism

#61

Post by johncessna »

wolverine876 wrote: post #44

In case people are missing the broader point of the article, beyond the horrifying incident at the beginning: "The whole idea behind Protect is that you could convince people to pay for the product once you’ve gotten them to the highest point of anxiety you can possibly get them to," one former employee said, referring to Citizen's subscription service. "Citizen can’t make money unless it makes its users believe ther…

> The whole idea behind Protect is that you could convince people to pay for the product once you’ve gotten them to the highest point of anxiety you can possibly get them to," one former employee said, referring to Citizen's subscription service. "Citizen can’t make money unless it makes its users believe there are constant, urgent threats around them at all times,"

There are a lot of businesses built on this model. The news outlets spring immediately to mind.

Re: Citizen’s dangerous effort to cash in on vigilantism

#64

Post by n_time »

mehlmao wrote: post #53
n_time wrote: post #26

That Vigilante ad gives me serious Jennifer Government vibes

Max Barry actually just wrote a blog post about that: https://maxbarry.com/2021/05/26/news.html

Also it's jarring reading early 00s Adbusters-style Gen-X prose after all these years

Re: Citizen’s dangerous effort to cash in on vigilantism

#65

Post by aemreunal »

Here's what I think will happen if their "on-demand protection" service launches: Someone will eventually get killed, they will either shut down that service or completely, then the executive(s) won't face any charges.

Even Batman had the decency of asking private citizens to not engage in vigilantism.

Re: Citizen’s dangerous effort to cash in on vigilantism

#66

Post by [deleted] »

johncessna wrote: post #61
wolverine876 wrote: post #44

In case people are missing the broader point of the article, beyond the horrifying incident at the beginning: "The whole idea behind Protect is that you could convince people to pay for the product once you’ve gotten them to the highest point of anxiety you can possibly get them to," one former employee said, referring to Citizen's subscription service. "Citizen can’t make money unless it makes its users believe ther…

> The whole idea behind Protect is that you could convince people to pay for the product once you’ve gotten them to the highest point of anxiety you can possibly get them to," one former employee said, referring to Citizen's subscription service. "Citizen can’t make money unless it makes its users believe there are constant, urgent threats around them at all times," There are a lot of businesses built on this model.…

[deleted]

Re: Citizen’s dangerous effort to cash in on vigilantism

#67

Post by johncessna »

awal2 wrote: post #57
petermcneeley wrote: post #15

Perhaps this is a mere symptom of some other problem. In Canada I dont personally recall witnessing crime in my adult life. If I saw someone doing something criminal today I would just you know... call the cops. Perhaps in the USA the lived experience is somewhat different? Maybe more crime? Maybe the police dont show up?

I also don't think I witnessed much crime until I moved to Seattle. In the six years I've been here though I've witnessed: 1. Somebody broke into my Aunt's place while nobody was home and took some jewelry and a cell phone. Police came by, handed her a form, said nice things for five minutes then took off. Never heard anything about it again. 2. My car window smashed after being parked on the street overnight. I call…

Those may not actually be crimes in Seattle.

Re: Citizen’s dangerous effort to cash in on vigilantism

#68

Post by isaacremuant »

jandrese wrote: post #11
jakelazaroff wrote: post #6

> Citizen, using a new livestreaming service it had just launched called OnAir, would catch the suspect live on air, with thousands of people watching. I'm sorry, is this describing real life or an episode of Black Mirror? It's so blatantly dystopian that I'm at a loss for words.

It's a scene taken almost directly from Fahrenheit 451. https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/451/section9/

The poignant part about Fahrenheit scene is that in the end, they just end up "catching and destroying" some random passerby when they can't find the target because people the show must have an end and it's all about optics. "The enemy has been neutralised".

Re: Citizen’s dangerous effort to cash in on vigilantism

#69

Post by jandrese »

isaacremuant wrote: post #68
jandrese wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a scene taken almost directly from Fahrenheit 451. https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/451/section9/

The poignant part about Fahrenheit scene is that in the end, they just end up "catching and destroying" some random passerby when they can't find the target because people the show must have an end and it's all about optics. "The enemy has been neutralised".

See also: Reddit's Internet Detective routine in response to the Boston Marathon Bomber.

Re: Citizen’s dangerous effort to cash in on vigilantism

#70

Post by the_snooze »

johncessna wrote: post #61
wolverine876 wrote: post #44

In case people are missing the broader point of the article, beyond the horrifying incident at the beginning: "The whole idea behind Protect is that you could convince people to pay for the product once you’ve gotten them to the highest point of anxiety you can possibly get them to," one former employee said, referring to Citizen's subscription service. "Citizen can’t make money unless it makes its users believe ther…

> The whole idea behind Protect is that you could convince people to pay for the product once you’ve gotten them to the highest point of anxiety you can possibly get them to," one former employee said, referring to Citizen's subscription service. "Citizen can’t make money unless it makes its users believe there are constant, urgent threats around them at all times," There are a lot of businesses built on this model.…

Everything is "BREAKING NEWS" these days, complete with fancy graphics and soundtracks. But there just isn't enough news day-to-day to warrant that level of importance. Not everyday is 9/11, much to news outlets' dismay.
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