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Texas police invested in phone-tracking software and won’t say how it’s used

texasobserver.org

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Re: Texas police invested in phone-tracking software and won’t say how it’s used

#91

Post by bee_rider »

Terr_ wrote: post #90
15155 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Constitution explicitly states the government may grant "Letters of Marque and Reprisal" to private citizens. What are those private citizens attacking enemy ships with exactly - strong words?

Was... was that nonsense supposed to be some kind of "gotcha"? Giving the federal government the option to deputize individuals as international agents does not even remotely suggest that States were agreeing to completely abolish all their local gun-laws for all time. That's like claiming the permission to establish a national postal service somehow bars States from having DUI laws, because any drunkard could maybe…

I believe the argument is that in order to have the Letters of Marque be useful, it must have been the case that captains had these types of weapons.

So, to fit it into your analogy, I think it is more like the permission to establish a national postal service implies that the government in the past had not outlawed literacy. There is no need for the government to provide services where the only possible users are already breaking the law.

That said I’m not actually sure I believe this because ships have always been a bit weird legally, going about in international waters far away from any law enforcement… it wouldn’t surprise me if there was some specific cut out for weapons that were only to be used at sea or something…

Re: Texas police invested in phone-tracking software and won’t say how it’s used

#92

Post by Terr_ »

bee_rider wrote: post #91
Terr_ wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was... was that nonsense supposed to be some kind of "gotcha"? Giving the federal government the option to deputize individuals as international agents does not even remotely suggest that States were agreeing to completely abolish all their local gun-laws for all time. That's like claiming the permission to establish a national postal service somehow bars States from having DUI laws, because any drunkard could maybe…

I believe the argument is that in order to have the Letters of Marque be useful, it must have been the case that captains had these types of weapons. So, to fit it into your analogy, I think it is more like the permission to establish a national postal service implies that the government in the past had not outlawed literacy. There is no need for the government to provide services where the only possible users are al…

> it must have been the case that captains had these types of weapons.

Some did, but that doesn't mean states couldn't (or didn't) have laws touching on it.

Similarly, I own and use a car today... but that doesn't mean "the state can't have safety requirements for vehicles", nor does it mean "the state can't bar a legally-blind 20-time DUI convict from driving."

> your analogy

I have a much better/closer one to offer. Consider that tomorrow the Federal legislature could grant a letter of Marque and Reprisal to someone who... Is a convicted murderer held on (state) death-row.

Does that possible wrinkle mean the original Constitution actually banned States from running their own prison systems all along? Does it mean only the federal government is allowed to sentence anybody to carceral punishment?

Obviously not, that'd be an insane conclusion... Yet the only difference here which realm of state law was "getting in the way." If a state can't have gun control because of an M&R letter, then it can't have prisons either.

Re: Texas police invested in phone-tracking software and won’t say how it’s used

#93

Post by varispeed »

This headline is unfortunate. It will just feed people who suffer from mental illness with believes "see, police can track my phone and listen to me". I am so tired of irresponsible media misrepresenting what article is about in such a way to gain clicks, without thinking of the suffering this might cause.

Re: Texas police invested in phone-tracking software and won’t say how it’s used

#94

Post by GaryBluto »

john-h-k wrote: post #70
kylecazar wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't black and white. Deploy trust circumstantially.

The increasing fraction of “zingy catchphrase” HN comments compared to actually nuanced takes is depressing. Feels like a horrible mix of Reddit and tumblr

It's very cult like and no doubt a result of people unconsciously (or not) absorbing the endless spam of Bluesky screenshots (that always follow the mindless catchphrase/black and white logic pattern) you see on every other popular "social media" platform.

Re: Texas police invested in phone-tracking software and won’t say how it’s used

#95

Post by input_sh »

gruez wrote: post #15
plagiarist wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It turns out it's actually fine if your data is on offer to the government from a third party. The Constitution was meant to be permanently fixed and extremely literal about only the technology available from centuries ago, it was not meant to describe general concepts nor intended to be updated to ensure those same rights are retained along with changes in society.

>The Constitution was meant to be permanently fixed and extremely literal about only the technology available from centuries ago, it was not meant to describe general concepts nor intended to be updated to ensure those same rights are retained along with changes in society. /s? I can't tell because people unironically use the same reasoning to make the "2nd amendment only apply to muskets" argument.

Yes, /s, they're advocating for it to be more of a work-in-progress document, and not considered something final in its current state.

The last pull request got accepted into main in 1992 after being stuck in the per review stage for no less than 202 years. The latest one out of 4 that still remain open ("no child labour") celebrated its 100th year anniversary 18 months ago because for some reason 15 states rejected to approve it and 2 of the states haven't even bothered to address it. 12 of the 28 that gave their approval also rejected it initially but then changed their opinion down the line.

Re: Texas police invested in phone-tracking software and won’t say how it’s used

#96

Post by KoftaBob »

> Tangles scrapes information from the open, deep, and dark webs and is the premier product of Cobwebs Technologies, a cybersecurity company founded in 2014 by three former members of special units in the Israeli military.

If I had a dime for every time a sketchy "cybersecurity"/surveillance software ended up being developed by an Israeli firm...

Re: Texas police invested in phone-tracking software and won’t say how it’s used

#98

Post by thephyber »

sneak wrote: post #58
alex_young wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The interesting part here is that they are apparently no longer even trying to use parallel construction [0] to cover this stuff up. They somehow feel confident that just saying we have this technology, we don’t say how we use it, but we wind up on the right trail and then gather some evidence down the road we wound up on somehow. Seems shaky at best. Smells of hubris. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_const…

Nothing will change until and unless police start suffering severe consequences for breaking the law. Such consequences will never come from the state.

Department insurance policies are the only thing that seems to scare departments into improving policies and behaviors.

Insurers who threaten to drop departments have immense leverage that city managers, city elected leaders, and voters don’t.

There aren’t a lot of departments who go bankrupt, but the few that do make a crying show of it and they are a great to show departments who flout reform.

Re: Texas police invested in phone-tracking software and won’t say how it’s used

#99

Post by thephyber »

aeonik wrote: post #51
collingreen wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That isn't the muskets version of that argument I have heard. The version I've heard is that the firearm technology when the second amendment was ratified was very different than today and that makes it worth evaluating if we want to amend it again. Similarly the military landscape looks very different as well such that there's a very different risk of foreign armies taking ground and citizens everywhere needing to b…

When the second amendment was ratified, privately owned warships were a regular thing for the wealthy. They would absolutely not have a problem with modern weapons. They would probably have allowed private ownership of missiles launchers with the right authorization. They were pretty clear that the average person should have the same capability as the state. They were a different breed. I think nuclear weapons would…

Tanks for all! /s

The founding fathers denied the right to bare arms to Catholics (and I’d wager lots of other religions), Native Americans, slaves (unless their owners explicitly allowed them), and we inherited English Common Law which limited carrying guns in populated areas.

Until Heller in ~2008, the right to bare arms (as a national right) was widely agreed to mean a collective right (eg. The militias), not an individual right.

We are in a weird place at this moment where the tide turned and lots of jurisprudence is being switched. Also, with ICE / DHS acting as unprofessional as they are, I wouldn’t be surprised to see lots of Dems advocate for more individual gun rights.

Re: Texas police invested in phone-tracking software and won’t say how it’s used

#100

Post by rexpop »

varispeed wrote: post #93

This headline is unfortunate. It will just feed people who suffer from mental illness with believes "see, police can track my phone and listen to me". I am so tired of irresponsible media misrepresenting what article is about in such a way to gain clicks, without thinking of the suffering this might cause.

The exacerbation of schizophrenic symptoms is a problem that pales in comparison to the infringement of our civil rights.
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