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Federal judge calls Flock 'indiscriminate mass surveillance'

483 points · 267 comments · sbulaev

  1. JKCalhoun · · 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 · · 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 · · 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:&#x2F;&#x2F;komonews.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;local&#x2F;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:&#x2F;&#x2F;komonews.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;local&#x2F;seattle-city-councilmember-r...

        1. JKCalhoun · · focus · HN ↗
          &quot;Gangstas&quot; 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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