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Comment by tablatom | Hacker News Reader

I was thinking the same thing. If Google start logging license plate numbers (and, hey, it's Google), they could build a database of known dangerous vehicles and automatically give them a wide berth.

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At that point they'd necessarily have some way to quantify dangerousity. There will be a ranking. Somewhere deep in the bowels of google, there will be a list, Top Ten most dangerous drivers. Google is about to get into the car insurance business.

https://google.com/compare

So it's OK for Google to record license plates, but it's flip-out time when the police do it?

Of course.

The most google can do: send you ads for shovels.

The most police can do: pull you in for murder because they correlated your car to where and when some body was buried.

I like how in your examples, "Google" is just algorithms, not the humans behind them, but for the police, you allow for humanity.

You may as well say, "the most police cameras can do: send you an automated speeding ticket", which is of course painfully naïve.

Google could do plenty of evil with your data.

Can you give me some examples of what google might reasonably do with my data that can negatively affect my life to the same magnitude as what the police/government might reasonably do?

Ideally, maybe no one should track my every move. But to talk about police and google in the same sentence in terms of ramifications is so far off I can't be anything but incredulous :)

farfetched and unrealistic at the moment, but totally plausible: compile a list of destinations you visit on some sort of schedule, commit some physical crime along that path during a time you can be shown to be in the area, and frame you for it, potentially by including things like relevant search data, falsified emails... lots of possibilities here.

Hahaha.

And you think this is something google might reasonably do?

Fuck. If you are around the NoVA/DC area let me know. I'll buy you a drink just so I can get a good laugh :)

Police and Government should be two different entities, but if you're living in a police state then you're probably right.

Otherwise, what Google could do is, say, record your dangerous driving (maybe that one time you were rushing a friend to hospital and ignored some speed limits). And then, every time a potential employer googled your name, they would see this "dangerous driver" notification. And you have no way of removing this, there's no statute of limitations, there's no way to correct it. For the rest of your life, that's the first result anyone sees when looking up who you are.

That's what Google could do.

again, my point wasn't so you could think of what Google "could do". But, rather contrast what Google might reasonably do and contrast with what the police might reasonably do.

But hey, feel free to over-react on google, but not about lack of gov. oversight.

Well I thought that was pretty reasonable. But since you disagree, lets look at what is actually happening now.

The youngest MP for a few hundred years was elected the other day. Her name is "Mhairi Black". Google her name, and see what you find on the first page.

Now, what have Police Scotland been up to....The last thing I remember seeing was a complaint about their ridiculous policy of sending armed officers to events that clearly didn't require them. They apologised and gave assurances that armed units would only be sent out in response to specific incidents.

Or do you mean personal interaction with the police? Last time I saw our local policeman, it was because his young son was scared of dogs as a big dog had knocked him down while playing. We took our puppy round so he could pet him and get over his fear.

I'm not sure what lack of government oversight you think there is. Holyrood is under constant scrutiny, not least by those who'd like to see it abolished!

The police can subpoena Google's records, and now Google is just a proxy for the police.

Sure. But that requires atleast a subpoena. So there is atleast some expectation of due process. Which means Google or any other company can push back. Failing that, something like Snowden can happen.

Contrast that with police collecting that data and not requiring any, however made-up, oversight.

That would probably be very problematic here in Germany.

Unsolicited bulk data collection. How American.

Good luck trying to make that work in places with privacy laws.

Yeah, that really prevented google from doing business in the EU.

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