Hacker News Reader

Comment by heavyset_go | Hacker News Reader

If you want to see the horrors that result from law enforcement's use of AI and predictive policing, look no further than here[1].

It's several videos taken from body cameras of police officers harassing, assaulting and abducting people because they showed up in their system as being related to, or knowing, people who are suspected, and not convicted, of crimes.

The videos are from a story that made the front page on HN about a month ago[2], if you want more details.

[1] https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/p...

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24363871

View on HN

This incredibly disturbing. I grew up with family members telling me horror stories about state abuse like this, from more than 30 years past in a country that doesn't exist anymore: The German Democratic Republic. If this isn't classic Stasi Zersetzungstaktik, I don't know what it is. Aren't there any laws against abuse like this? How the hell is this legal?

I'm glad you've pointed this out. Comparisons to GDR and the Stasi often get ridiculed for being excessive and hyperbolic when in fact what's currently implemented would've been the Stasi's dream.

If anyone needs a good weekend movie recommendation, Das Leben der Anderen[1] is excellent and quite relevant.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lives_of_Others

I am citing that movie whenever we argue privacy with my uninterested friends (eastern european too).

An excellent movie, highly recommend.

It there any "AI" in the Tampa issue?

Or "predictive"?

The Tampa program is vindictive policing to harass undesirables into leaving town.

Just a note, that's Pasco county which is north of Tampa. I believe you're referring to this story that broke a few weeks ago: https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/p...

It seems like in both of those cases the real problem was the pre-emptive actions taken by the officers. If someone is predicted to commit a crime it makes radically more sense (as far as avoiding acting on false positives) to surveil them in a clandestine fashion and simply allow them to commit the crime while you record the evidence. An arresting officer can be dispatched later to make the arrest without any need to risk escalating an in-progress crime.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com