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Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

theintercept.com

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Re: Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

#111

Post by mmooss »

lenerdenator wrote: post #79
CalChris wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is surprising. Why are the police monitoring constitutionally protected activity?

They do it more than you'd think. There're a ton of pictures of La Cosa Nostra members walking around in Brooklyn taken by FBI agents. They even made sure to get the good side of Casso and Gotti. Walking around and talking to each other? Constitutionally protected.

Very possibly those people were named subjects of active investigations for crimes; the protestors are not named (it's a dragnet), not subjects of investigations, and are suspected of no crimes.

Re: Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

#113

Post by mmooss »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #42
CalChris wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is surprising. Why are the police monitoring constitutionally protected activity?

[flagged]

> Protests over issues like Gaza have a high probability of turning violent

What is the probability? I'm not saying it never happens, but a 'high probability'? Let's see some data!

Maybe there's a bias based on what you see in the news - they naturally cover the violent ones (and then depict them as the entire protest instead of something that happened off to the side that most people didn't even know occurred).

Re: Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

#114

Post by [deleted] »

imperfect_light wrote: post #93
CalChris wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is surprising. Why are the police monitoring constitutionally protected activity?

Police in my city go to pretty much every protest and take video and photos (with big zoom lens) from the roofs of nearby buildings. It's always surprising to me that more people don't notice.

[deleted]

Re: Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

#115

Post by bluescrn »

giraffe_lady wrote: post #64
Mountain_Skies wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

How many gaza protests have there been in the US alone in the past two years and how many of them had any violence at all? I wouldn't call it a "high probability."

[flagged]

Re: Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

#116

Post by mmooss »

YZF wrote: post #109
latentcall wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

Let's say Israel does something that is or might be genocidal. How do people talk about it without being antisemetic.?

> It is intended

What evidence do you have of the GP's intent? Or of all the other people who say the same?

Re: Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

#117

Post by deepsun »

whatshisface wrote: post #63

Here's an interesting thought about how preferential surveillance can lead to repression even when it's public and not itself acted on: 1. Every demographic commits petty crimes and code violations at about the same rate (things like parking violations and music piracy). 2. However, people who are being watched will be caught more often. 3. The end result is that people in the "wrong" crowd on average are punished mo…

1. Bogus claim. I'm pretty sure Swiss drivers run red light way less than Lebanese, for example.

Re: Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

#118

Post by ImJamal »

sixothree wrote: post #71
stvltvs wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Posting on a publicly accesible website is the legal equivalent of standing on the street corner having a conversation. A police officer doesn't need to search anything because it's out in the open.

Yes. But you cannot follow a person around indefinitely.

Maybe as an individual you cannot, but I don't see why a group of people (cops) couldn't.

Re: Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

#119

Post by mschuster91 »

giraffe_lady wrote: post #103
mschuster91 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MANY Gaza protests in Germany escalated into violence, especially against the press - the local RSF section posted about this a few months ago [1], and in numbers more journalists are attacked at Palestine rallies than at far-right rallies [2], and that one is a legitimate challenge to achieve given how many attacks against journalists came from that wing. No matter one's stance on I/P, the pro Gaza crowd is absurdly…

I specifically constrained it to the US because I'm aware that the dynamics and tactics of these movements are highly regional and I simply don't know what it's like elsewhere. Sometimes I get annoyed how US-centric the conversations can be on here but given the subject is american police using a US-made surveillance tool against protestors in the united states I think it makes some amount of sense this time. Thanks…

For what it's worth, German pigs are just as bad when it comes to surveillance of (at least) Twitter during protests. I myself earned a nasty letter after a live-reporting from a Nazi rally a few years ago.

Re: Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

#120

Post by mmooss »

shadowgovt wrote: post #38
tdb7893 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that while not surprising it's still interesting and useful to know exactly how they are doing it and what tools they are using. In the US protests are a constitutionally protected right and visibility into how they are monitoring and reacting to them is important.

If we remove the tech from the story and consider the old "colonial village test": A man walks up and down the street either shouting about, or handing out flyers, that say "We should get together and blockade main street in protest of the illegitimate taxes Congress has passed on our whiskey." Is it legal for the cops to stop him? Probably not. Is it legal for the cops to move their plans around to show up on main s…

> If we remove the tech from the story

If we remove the tech from the dropping of the atomic bombs, what's the big deal?

You can't remove the tech; it is intrinsic to the issue.

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