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

Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

theintercept.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 265 posts

Re: Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

#61

Post by throwaway9191aa »

asacrowflies wrote: post #41
tharne wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can't expect the police to do their jobs? Imagine you're a programmer, or a chef, or a carpenter, really anything. Now imagine you go to work every day, put in 8-10 hours a day working hard, and at the end of each day someone in a more powerful position than yourself throws out, ignores, or otherwise destroys all of your work for that day. And this happens every day, day after day. No matter your work ethic or…

I know if I refused to do my work or even hinted I wouldn't do it...no matter if the boss destroyed it... Id be fired faster than those police lighting up a suspects vehicle with bullet holes.

Why are these comments saying that not doing a small part of a job that your boss doesn't want you to do is means for dismissal?

If something you are doing is being thrown away, you should change focus (like pulling back on quality of life arrests, and focus on real crimes).

If your boss is destroying all your work, you're going to get fired for not producing anything. I'd recommend you figure out what your boss cares about.

Re: Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

#62

Post by stvltvs »

CodeWriter23 wrote: post #49
CalChris wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Acts in public are not protected. This, however is: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

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.

Re: Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

#63

Post by whatshisface »

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 more than people in the "right" one at an equal level of misbehavior.

Re: Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

#64

Post by giraffe_lady »

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]

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."

Re: Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

#65

Post by MegaButts »

throwaway9191aa wrote: post #58
MegaButts wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whenever you feel like not doing your job, just tell your boss "I don't want to" and see how that goes for you. I understand how motivation works. Sometimes doing a job sucks. That's part of why you get paid to do it. It sounds to me like those police officers don't want to do their jobs. I'd encourage them to quit instead of wasting tax dollars. Of course the real issue is they want the money without the work, and t…

But that isn't what appears to be happening. Their "boss" (the DA) is the one saying "I don't want to". When your boss gives you clear incentives, like not prosecuting (throwing out) portions of your work, you are going to stop that work and focus on other things.

The DA is not their boss. Cops are supposed to enforce laws. The DA is supposed to prosecute them. The cops are just using the DA as an excuse to not do their jobs. And once you normalize the cops not arresting people, now the DA has an excuse for prosecuting fewer criminals - at that point how do you decide who's to blame? Now you have two dysfunctional organizations, each pointing the finger at the other, and you've already normalized at least one of them. Even if you think the cops shouldn't be arresting people because of the DA, at the very least this skews data on crime as police are making fewer arrests independent of crime levels.

This is like me saying I don't want to do my job because those other guys in the other department aren't going to do anything with it, so I'm just not going to bother. I think almost everyone can relate to lazy/incompetent coworkers - does that mean you should also be lazy/incompetent? The way to fight laziness is with hard work, and the way to fight incompetence is with competence. What you're advocating for just normalizes dysfunction.

Re: Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

#66

Post by arrosenberg »

honeybadger1 wrote: post #55
bastardoperator wrote: post #24

LAPD and LASD are going to bankrupt Los Angeles. They're more concerned with being a paramilitary police force versus stopping or preventing neighborhood crime.

[flagged]

You make a really good point! The average law abiding citizen is much more afraid of petty crime against Elon Musk, a man who does the Nazi salute, than they are about losing their constitutional rights. That is how we wound up with a militarized police force in the first place, with the average person being more afraid of terrorism than encroaching totalitarianism.

> i would argue the people in these protests are likely the people committing street crime.

evidenced by?

Re: Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

#67

Post by giraffe_lady »

honeybadger1 wrote: post #55
bastardoperator wrote: post #24

LAPD and LASD are going to bankrupt Los Angeles. They're more concerned with being a paramilitary police force versus stopping or preventing neighborhood crime.

[flagged]

Remember that actual literal swastika-wearing nazis were average law abiding citizens. If nazis are scared to come in contact with you you're doing well.

Re: Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

#68

Post by tptacek »

text0404 wrote: post #53
tptacek wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the police watch you walk down the street they are also monitoring constitutionally protected activity.

a police officer observing you briefly with their eyes is quite different than an entire police department outsourcing surveillance of protected activities to a third party which monitors your online activity over time.

How? What expectation of privacy do you have walking down the street, or in your public social media posts?

Re: Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

#69

Post by honeybadger1 »

arrosenberg wrote: post #66
honeybadger1 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

You make a really good point! The average law abiding citizen is much more afraid of petty crime against Elon Musk, a man who does the Nazi salute, than they are about losing their constitutional rights. That is how we wound up with a militarized police force in the first place, with the average person being more afraid of terrorism than encroaching totalitarianism. > i would argue the people in these protests are li…

[flagged]

Re: Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests

#70

Post by nickff »

Tostino wrote: post #51
nickff wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mostly agree with you, but there’s a difference between using a non-covert method of communication like telephone or SMS, and a social media post, which is designed to be relayed and amplified.

What legitimate reason would the police have for monitoring everything on social media that is protected by the Constitution?

That really depends on which police you're talking about, and one's views on the Constitution. State and local police have fairly broad powers, and I don't know much about California's laws, so I'm not in a position to judge this.
Post reply on HN