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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

#71

Post by krastanov »

_vertigo wrote: post #33
OldGoodNewBad wrote: post #17

In many communities it’s clear that the DAs won’t prosecute criminals, so vigilantism is inevitable. People demand justice, in other words punishment, for criminals, and they will obtain it if the system fails. We’re heading toward the Albanian model and that’s actually OK. If we all drop our little safe happy delusions we’ll see it’s necessary to get your own justice.

This attitude is fundamentally incompatible with American (really, all Western) civic values. It goes against what our entire system of law is built on.

> People demand justice, in other words punishment

Not being able to distinguish justice and punishment sounds terrifying. To me this is as fundamental as "innocent until proven guilty". I am simply not interested in living in a society in which these two notions are confused for each other (and no, I am not privileged rich elite that gets to not be affected by crime).

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

#72

Post by deckard1 »

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.

Minority Report came out in 2002. I remember people were talking about the targeted advertising going on in the movie. Two years later Facebook came out along with their pitch deck[1]. Now that movie seems quaint.

Developers and entrepreneurs are actively chasing dystopia. We've become increasingly numb and blasé about the encroachment of the internet and smartphones into our lives. Eventually we'll have The Running Man with live streaming. The end result of our social isolation and filter/engagement bubbles due to technology is moral apathy and rot. To speak the VC speak, the past few years have validated a market for cruelty, hate, and mob justice. The only question left is, how do I buy in today? Citizen seems like an early answer to this.

[1] https://app.slidebean.com/p/s15UZQkE7T/Facebooks-original-pi...

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

#73

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

#74

Post by BigW1lly »

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…

You live in Seattle, there's your main problem. The local government keeps the police department hogtied, cops can't do much outside of their narrow rules of engagement. On top of that, the city's residents don't seem too enthusiastic about the 2nd Amendment either. So who or what is going to protect the flock?? Nothing it seems.

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

#75

Post by MomoXenosaga »

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.…

There are politicians built on this model. Reagan became a canonised saint for imprisoning a record number of African Americans and Hispanics.

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

#76

Post by vmception »

ceejayoz wrote: post #51
coldcode wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also interesting that use Slack and apparently can't control someone inside from leaking said Slacks.

Why is that interesting? It's trivial to screenshot a Slack channel. Or pretty much any other form of communication a business might use.

On that note I often use my ipad to take a picture of my iphone just in case the particular app has screen shot notifications

It’s usually benign stuff, it’s just that you can’t risk having to explain why you ever screenshotted to your friends

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

#77

Post by jjk166 »

munk-a wrote: post #14
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.

Cue some muggers becoming celebrities due to executing their actions in flamboyant outfits, it'll be the next professional wrestling!

So this is how supervillains become a thing.

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

#78

Post by vmception »

imwillofficial wrote: post #48
vmception wrote: post #21

> Citizen does moderate comments, but "two people having an argument about whether or not someone’s comment is racist drives engagement," LOL, my publicist does this on linkedin and other places for us because people are gullible. Source article: Executive of does a thing 0 engagement, nobody knows Social Media version: [First] Executive of does a thing 15,000 comments, 2 million reach, supporters and detractors argu…

I don’t know who is shaking the bottle, all I know is those fire ants are going down!

Black ants just have to make everything about the fire ants huh!

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

#79

Post by jkr42 »

vmception wrote: post #21

> Citizen does moderate comments, but "two people having an argument about whether or not someone’s comment is racist drives engagement," LOL, my publicist does this on linkedin and other places for us because people are gullible. Source article: Executive of does a thing 0 engagement, nobody knows Social Media version: [First] Executive of does a thing 15,000 comments, 2 million reach, supporters and detractors argu…

Must be nice, actively exploiting human nature and then calling the humans dumb and gullible for having said nature and falling for your exploitation. Absolves you of any liability for being no better than a troll because what, you’re smarter than everyone else, I guess? You and your “publicist” (what are you, Ryan Gosling?) figured out dark marketing patterns and now you’re on a different plane of existence from the plebes?

I don’t know what you think this comment accomplishes, but it certainly didn’t accomplish that. Who’s shaking your bottle, enlightened one?

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

#80

Post by silexia »

the_snooze wrote: post #70
johncessna wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I agree, I watched the weather channel with my father in law yesterday... Everything was "THREAT!" and "POSSIBLE TORNADO", etc. This is being shown in Southern California lol and they are reporting on minor weather risks a thousand miles away.

Fox news does the same thing... Find crime anywhere in the country, bonus points if it involves sex or a minority and make it a headline if it involves an immigrant.

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