Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Vigilante Manifesto

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 42 posts

Re: The Vigilante Manifesto

#31

Post by rymohr »

One time I was at the park with my three kids and all the sudden every parent at the playground grabbed their kids, rushed to the parking lot, and got the hell out of there.

I had no idea what was going on. So we kept skateboarding.

Next thing I know cop cars are zipping in and out of the neighborhood, dozens of police are running around jumping fences, and there's a helicopter circling overhead.

Our car was parked in the center of the chaos, so we stayed on the far side of the park and watched.

Would have loved to have an app like this that day. Still never got to the bottom of what was actually going on. Or figured out how all those other parents were privy to the situation before I was.

Re: The Vigilante Manifesto

#33

Post by adrianpike »

rymohr wrote: post #31

One time I was at the park with my three kids and all the sudden every parent at the playground grabbed their kids, rushed to the parking lot, and got the hell out of there. I had no idea what was going on. So we kept skateboarding. Next thing I know cop cars are zipping in and out of the neighborhood, dozens of police are running around jumping fences, and there's a helicopter circling overhead. Our car was parked i…

Maybe they heard gunshots and the skateboards were loud enough they masked the sound?

Re: The Vigilante Manifesto

#34

Post by arprocter »

HorizonXP wrote: post #12

The lens of a camera cannot lie, but video editing can. In the spirit of trying new ideas, I think this is definitely an interesting one. I think it will be interesting to see how the public responds to this. That said, I see a couple of things happening: 1) Most people will not care about this, nor use it. Human apathy is pretty powerful, and I don't mean that in a bad way. I think the majority of us are happy going…

Have you seen the movie Nightcrawler?

Re: The Vigilante Manifesto

#35

Post by throwusawayus »

0xffff2 wrote: post #28

It's absolutely unfathomable to me that someone thought this was a good idea. If I'm calling 911, it's because I need professional emergency services. Can someone name even one scenario where some random person off the street intervening is more likely to harm than to help when intervening in a situation based on this app?

I can't verify this, but I was told that the lead investor is Peter Thiel / Founders Fund. Seems believable, since it's consistent with his investment thesis.

Re: The Vigilante Manifesto

#37

Post by smokeyj »

HorizonXP wrote: post #12

The lens of a camera cannot lie, but video editing can. In the spirit of trying new ideas, I think this is definitely an interesting one. I think it will be interesting to see how the public responds to this. That said, I see a couple of things happening: 1) Most people will not care about this, nor use it. Human apathy is pretty powerful, and I don't mean that in a bad way. I think the majority of us are happy going…

> LEO and emergency personnel are trained to respond to these situations, and are paid to put their lives on the line.

The keyword here is paid. We need more market forces in policing. It needs to be easier to fire bad actors and promote the good ones.

Re: The Vigilante Manifesto

#38

Post by freeformed_co »

rymohr wrote: post #31

One time I was at the park with my three kids and all the sudden every parent at the playground grabbed their kids, rushed to the parking lot, and got the hell out of there. I had no idea what was going on. So we kept skateboarding. Next thing I know cop cars are zipping in and out of the neighborhood, dozens of police are running around jumping fences, and there's a helicopter circling overhead. Our car was parked i…

I think a lot of people have experienced situations where they'd like to know (or at least have the option to know) what is happening around them.

Re: The Vigilante Manifesto

#39

Post by jamesfe »

Are there a lot of people who have the time and flexibility of schedules to go chasing down 911 calls in their neighborhood?

I'm not heartless, I certainly open the front door and take a gander if I hear my dog barking or a loud noise out front, but beyond that, I'm not sure I'd just leave my family in the house with no plan other than to videotape what could be a violent criminal in the heat of the moment.

Also, what relationship does this company have with a user once that user gets shot in the chest for running around and videotaping an armed robbery with their flashlight beaconing their position and activity to the criminal?

What about when someone calls in a sexual assault - are there protections for their privacy?

Re: The Vigilante Manifesto

#40

Post by incongruity »

smokeyj wrote: post #37
HorizonXP wrote: post #12

The lens of a camera cannot lie, but video editing can. In the spirit of trying new ideas, I think this is definitely an interesting one. I think it will be interesting to see how the public responds to this. That said, I see a couple of things happening: 1) Most people will not care about this, nor use it. Human apathy is pretty powerful, and I don't mean that in a bad way. I think the majority of us are happy going…

> LEO and emergency personnel are trained to respond to these situations, and are paid to put their lives on the line. The keyword here is paid. We need more market forces in policing. It needs to be easier to fire bad actors and promote the good ones.

Actually, training is a pretty important word there too...

We can debate about the quality of current training standards for certain case types, but on balance, I think it's hard to dispute that many situations need the expertise of trained first responders (paid or unpaid). More people on scene doesn't always make things better. Without thinking about the specific problems this is meant to solve and working to enable solutions, this app can be just as dangerously bad as it tries to be good.

Post reply on HN