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Watch the Watchers: LAPD officer database

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Re: Watch the Watchers: LAPD officer database

#81
post #70
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tech companies have absolute power over people’s lives The kind of power wielded by tech companies is not the same kind of power wielded by the police. Comparing them directly in this way runs into some major false equivalence problems. I still see major potential for abuse of such a database and I’m not claiming it is without issue. But logging an interaction with an armed public servant who has the power to detai…

> The kind of power wielded by tech companies is not the same kind of power wielded by the police. Police and Law Enforcement salivate at the data and control Social Media/Tech companies have. One could look to the twitter files to see how much the US government attempted and successfully controlled a public company to push narratives of the current regime and or censor dissenting views. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wi…

> Police and Law Enforcement salivate at the data and control Social Media/Tech companies have.

Of course they do, but the core point remains: the kind of power wielded is not the same. Pinterest can’t show up at your door with guns based on the things you pin. The reason police salivate is because of the possibilities unlocked by having such data while also being “the law”.

I’m in no way claiming that this power is not dangerous for other reasons in the hands of tech companies, but tech having this data means something entirely different than LEO having this data.

The implications and failure modes are quite different and worthy of examination.

Re: Watch the Watchers: LAPD officer database

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't remember the last time some tech company employees got together to beat someone to death and the companies mounted a defense for those employees.

Facebook employees triggered a genocide in Myanmar, does that count?

Individual Facebook employees triggered a genocide?

Re: Watch the Watchers: LAPD officer database

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook employees triggered a genocide in Myanmar, does that count?

Individual Facebook employees triggered a genocide?

I don't think any of them were conjoined twins or borg-like linked collectives if that's what you mean. So yes they were all individual people.

Re: Watch the Watchers: LAPD officer database

#84
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tell that to Rodney king

That had immediate feedback, but hasn't seemed to result in any systemic changes. Macklemore references this in his song A Wake. I grew up during Reaganomics When Ice T was out there on his killing cops shit Or Rodney King was getting beat on And they let off every single officer And Los Angeles went and lost it Now every month there's a new Rodney on YouTube It's just something our generation is used to

I mean.. many states have implemented significant reform. Colorado has had a number of high visibility issues and has made meaningful changes due to the protests and media coverage. It’s just not true to say there hasn’t been systemic changes.

Re: Watch the Watchers: LAPD officer database

#86
post #81
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The kind of power wielded by tech companies is not the same kind of power wielded by the police. Police and Law Enforcement salivate at the data and control Social Media/Tech companies have. One could look to the twitter files to see how much the US government attempted and successfully controlled a public company to push narratives of the current regime and or censor dissenting views. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wi…

> Police and Law Enforcement salivate at the data and control Social Media/Tech companies have. Of course they do, but the core point remains: the kind of power wielded is not the same. Pinterest can’t show up at your door with guns based on the things you pin. The reason police salivate is because of the possibilities unlocked by having such data while also being “the law”. I’m in no way claiming that this power is…

Sorry I guess I'm not keeping up.

If tech has the data, law enforcement has access to said data. Simple as.

Re: Watch the Watchers: LAPD officer database

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if it would be legal to use home surveillance cameras to identify police car license plates, facial recognition, to track individual police officers. Then you can have a good argument when you are trying to sue for illegal surveillance.

You could do one better with SDR units and use trilateration of police radios/radar to track them in real-time.

All but the most rural police departments have long since moved to frequency hopping, encrypted radios thanks to DHS initiatives and funding, no? This also adds complexity to the task of triangulating them doesn't it?

Re: Watch the Watchers: LAPD officer database

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They aren’t exactly shy about their goals: “This website is intended as a tool to empower community members engaged in copwatch and other countersurveillance practices. You can use it to identify officers who are causing harm in your community” “Political” is not the slur you think it is to activists. Ironically, the belief that good social action should be some sort of pure pragmatism unsullied by politics is itself…

Anarchism is a political ideology though. OP is saying that there is much more than simply holding police abuse accountable.

Where does anarchism come in? That seems like a pretty big leap in logic

Re: Watch the Watchers: LAPD officer database

#89
post #71
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tech companies have absolute power over people’s lives The kind of power wielded by tech companies is not the same kind of power wielded by the police. Comparing them directly in this way runs into some major false equivalence problems. I still see major potential for abuse of such a database and I’m not claiming it is without issue. But logging an interaction with an armed public servant who has the power to detai…

I find the fact that I cannot post certain ideas to Reddit in my local city subreddit without getting downvoted to Oblivion and then no longer can post at all due to negative karma problematic. In fact, I find this way more problematic for me than s handful of asshole cops. Should I start posting information about community managers or employees at Reddit who don’t help in this situation? Doesn’t matter what your equ…

If you discuss your ideas in public on main street and people got mad at you would you feel the same way? Why is reddit special?

Re: Watch the Watchers: LAPD officer database

#90
post #28

Unless there is an equivalent LAPD initiative that uploads the pictures of law-abiding citizens with names and other identifying info to the public web, there will be suspicions that this is an anti-police (rather than anti-police-surveillance-abuse) measure intended to intimidate and obstruct police work. Neither is it clear how representative the organizers are of those law-abiding citizens generally rather than a…

It is public information, this is just an interface to access it. Google LASD Gangs, we need more transparency, not less.

For reference

https://knock-la.com/lasd-gangs-little-devils-wayside-whitie...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LASD_deputy_gangs

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