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The citypages link on HN is fake news. It misrepresents and mischaracterizes the events reported on the tonywebster link. "Cops figure if they could just find

by danjoc 10y ago

The citypages link on HN is fake news. It misrepresents and mischaracterizes the events reported on the tonywebster link. "Cops figure if they could just find out who in that affluent suburb has Googled that name, they'd narrow their suspect list right down." This is fabricated tripe. The cops are not looking specifically in the victim's suburb. The person who wrote the citypages article is being a complete imbecile. His heart might be in the right place, but he's got his facts all wrong. The warrant pertains to information on anyone, anywhere on the entire planet who might have accessed Google's servers and searched for that name between Dec 1 and Jan 7.

eridius 10y ago
Getting one fact wrong doesn't make the story fake news. Most of it (and, most importantly, the actually important parts of it) are completely true. Fake news is news stories that are intentionally made up, not news stories that contain mistakes.
- danjoc 10y ago
  The one fact he got wrong is the whole point of his fake news story.
  - eridius 10y ago
    Not really. The point is the police are trying to solve a case of attempted fraud by asking Google for all searches for a particular name within a particular time period, based on the fact that searching for that name in Google Images comes up with the images used on the fake passport. The story is reporting that they're asking specifically for searches made by people in a particular city, but that detail is pretty incidental to the story itself. And again, please stop calling this "fake news" just because it contains a mistake. I've already explained that this is not at all what that phrase means.
    - danjoc 10y ago
      "Police ask for whole city's Google searches, and a judge says yes" Fake news. The title is entirely false. "The people of Edina probably don't know it, but they're doing battle with the Edina Police Department over the right to online privacy." Fake news. The people of Edina are not the targets of the warrant. "The cops are winning." Be afraid! Cops are winning... something. "a Hennepin County judge has granted the Edina Police Department an extraordinary degree of access to citizens' Google history" More fake news. Completely fabricated misrepresentation of the truth. The cops have no access to their general search history at all. "Of course, people's Google search history not only isn't public, it's not usually available to local cops trying to bust a small-time swindler." Fake news. Google is "bombarded" by user data requests from government. https://www.cnet.com/news/google-were-bombarded-by-govt-requests-on-user-data/ https://www.cnet.com/news/google-were-bombarded-by-govt-requ... The article is fake news. The title is fake news. The content is fake news.
      - eridius 10y ago
        Stop calling it fake news! It's a real story that's been misinterpreted by the journalist. That doesn't make it fake. That just makes it an error. Fake news is stories that are made up. This story isn't made up. It's just erroneous. Why do you keep insisting on incorrectly using the term "fake news" for this?
        danjoc 10y ago
        Reality: Cops provide weak probable cause for warrant, judge gives rubber stamp. They might catch a criminal if their hunch is right and Google doesn't push back due to the expense of the inquiry. Fake news: Cops are raiding the search history of the citizens of Edina! Privacy rights are in great peril! Porn viewing habits might even be exposed! That's more than erroneous. That's fabrication. Complete falsehood. It is not a real story. It has no basis in reality. Clickbait title. Mainly designed to drive traffic for ad revenue. It's the very definition of fake news.
        deleted 10y ago
- bigbugbag 10y ago
  It's not mistakes, it's clickbait title and false information. You want to make a distinction based on author's intention, but whether it is intentional or due to incompentence fact is this citypages article got it wrong and got debunked in the ars technica article[1]: language in the warrant[2] that says "located in city or township of Edina, County of Hennepin, State of Minnesota" is standard, pro forma language that is often contained in the county's warrants. That language, he said, does not mean that the warrant is demanding that Google solely disclose who within the city's 15 square miles searched for the victim's name, as some have reported.) [1]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/judge-oks-warrant-to-reveal-who-searched-a-fraud-victims-name-on-google/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/judge-oks-warran... [2]:

by danjoc 10y ago

eridius 10y ago

Getting one fact wrong doesn't make the story fake news. Most of it (and, most importantly, the actually important parts of it) are completely true. Fake news is news stories that are intentionally made up, not news stories that contain mistakes.

danjoc 10y ago
The one fact he got wrong is the whole point of his fake news story.
- eridius 10y ago
  Not really. The point is the police are trying to solve a case of attempted fraud by asking Google for all searches for a particular name within a particular time period, based on the fact that searching for that name in Google Images comes up with the images used on the fake passport. The story is reporting that they're asking specifically for searches made by people in a particular city, but that detail is pretty incidental to the story itself. And again, please stop calling this "fake news" just because it contains a mistake. I've already explained that this is not at all what that phrase means.
  - danjoc 10y ago
    "Police ask for whole city's Google searches, and a judge says yes" Fake news. The title is entirely false. "The people of Edina probably don't know it, but they're doing battle with the Edina Police Department over the right to online privacy." Fake news. The people of Edina are not the targets of the warrant. "The cops are winning." Be afraid! Cops are winning... something. "a Hennepin County judge has granted the Edina Police Department an extraordinary degree of access to citizens' Google history" More fake news. Completely fabricated misrepresentation of the truth. The cops have no access to their general search history at all. "Of course, people's Google search history not only isn't public, it's not usually available to local cops trying to bust a small-time swindler." Fake news. Google is "bombarded" by user data requests from government. https://www.cnet.com/news/google-were-bombarded-by-govt-requests-on-user-data/ https://www.cnet.com/news/google-were-bombarded-by-govt-requ... The article is fake news. The title is fake news. The content is fake news.
    - eridius 10y ago
      Stop calling it fake news! It's a real story that's been misinterpreted by the journalist. That doesn't make it fake. That just makes it an error. Fake news is stories that are made up. This story isn't made up. It's just erroneous. Why do you keep insisting on incorrectly using the term "fake news" for this?
      - danjoc 10y ago
        Reality: Cops provide weak probable cause for warrant, judge gives rubber stamp. They might catch a criminal if their hunch is right and Google doesn't push back due to the expense of the inquiry. Fake news: Cops are raiding the search history of the citizens of Edina! Privacy rights are in great peril! Porn viewing habits might even be exposed! That's more than erroneous. That's fabrication. Complete falsehood. It is not a real story. It has no basis in reality. Clickbait title. Mainly designed to drive traffic for ad revenue. It's the very definition of fake news.
        deleted 10y ago
bigbugbag 10y ago
It's not mistakes, it's clickbait title and false information. You want to make a distinction based on author's intention, but whether it is intentional or due to incompentence fact is this citypages article got it wrong and got debunked in the ars technica article[1]: language in the warrant[2] that says "located in city or township of Edina, County of Hennepin, State of Minnesota" is standard, pro forma language that is often contained in the county's warrants. That language, he said, does not mean that the warrant is demanding that Google solely disclose who within the city's 15 square miles searched for the victim's name, as some have reported.) [1]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/judge-oks-warrant-to-reveal-who-searched-a-fraud-victims-name-on-google/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/judge-oks-warran... [2]: