Thread

Federal judge calls Flock 'indiscriminate mass surveillance'

483 points · 267 comments · sbulaev

JKCalhoun · 1791067032 · focus · HN ↗
License plate reader?
So the device should require very specific license plates to scan for—not the current dragnet. The software should only "ping" when there is a confident match with said license plate(s)—and merely log which license plate, time stamp a single photo, and note the confidence level of it being a match.
The frame buffer should be the only place (a frame of) video is ever stored at all (excepting the high-confidence match indicated above).
The only issue remaining would be whether we trust the device/software to have complied (and not have a backdoor) and of course there needs to be a legal warrant for every license plate uploaded (and it should expire fairly frequently, likely requiring a new warrant to continue canning for the plate).
1. kennywinker · 1791070121 · focus · HN ↗
  That is a technical solution to a problem that has a far cheaper, and less easily abused solution: don't put up cameras at all.
  Building a system with "safeguards" in place that require constant oversight is destined for either regulatory capture of the oversight, or slow dismantling of the oversight.
  E.g. warrants -> fisa court warrants -> Xkeyscore
  1. sippingabonedry · 1791075223 · focus · HN ↗
    > don't put up cameras at all
    This worked out great for Seattle. A "pathetic" lack of security cameras at the city's most visible tourist attraction, so when gangstas started shooting at each other at a food festival with 3 people dead and 4 others injured, it was complete chaos from a public safety perspective, and they had no evidence from which to draw from.
    I wished we lived in your perfect world but unfortunately reality is more like Taxi Driver. Technology provides the tools to help bridge the gap.
    <a href="https://komonews.com/news/local/seattle-city-councilmember-rob-saka-public-safety-climate-pledge-arena-bite-of-seattle-cctv-july-gun-violence-bystander-video-real-time-crime-center-surveillance" rel="nofollow">https://komonews.com/news/local/seattle-city-councilmember-r...
    Cider9986 · 1791078199 · focus · HN ↗
    While individual examples of crime and murder are upsetting and are certainly abused by politicians to gain more power, they are actually a small cause of death and they don't justify destroying privacy.
    sershe · 1791095951 · focus · HN ↗
    Do you have statistics for both? To me, it looks like the reduction of crime is backed by some tentative numbers, whereas even organizations explicitly dedicated to finding violations of privacy report a a small collection of anecdotes.
    Not to mention that as far as I am concerned, even someone e.g. breaking into a house - not speaking of violent crime - is far more damaging and traumatizing than some random cop looking up his exes license plate and doing nothing with it. Even if the numbers of instances were comparable.
    JKCalhoun · 1791115581 · focus · HN ↗
    "Gangstas" started shooting each other and the police were left completely hamstrung? Hard to imagine how we ever prosecuted crimes before Flock.

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