7 ms·
Police sent warrant to Facebook for information on Philando Castile’s girlfriend
- mnm1 9y agoI hope it's apparent to more people now how little difference there is between police in America and the gangs they allegedly "protect" us from. Both are unchecked forces doing whatever they want, killing whomever they want for whatever convoluted reason they want. The main differences are that police get to live to potentially kill another day and their gang territory is the entire country. But it's not just the cops. The inhumane jury members led by an inhumane supreme court decision clearly shows that this is what the system is created for. To allow police to get away with murder and anything else. This Facebook warrant is a clear example that there was never any intention of justice in this case, that police only care to serve and protect themselves, and that no one is safe from police in America. No one.
- pokle 9y agoWhy is this on Hacker News?
- s_kilk 9y agoBecause it highlights the sometimes disturbing intersection between technology and the real world
- s_kilk 9y agoAnd a counter question: why do techies pretend they have no stake in the civil society they live in?
- zkms 9y agoBecause there's lots of discussion about legally coerced access to data that's managed by tech companies -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14615414 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14615414 was on the front page yesterday -- and this is an instance where law-enforcement tried to use those legal authorities to try to get FB to cough up data with rather untoward intent.
- DanBC 9y agoIf you build a service that collects and stores a bunch of information the state will use their power to compel you to hand it over. That's bad enough now, but several people on HN know Holocaust survivors, or lived in countries with oppressive regimes.
- pizza 9y agoAnti-totalitarianism is de facto hacker-friendly
- athanas 9y agoSome people on HN like to read both sides of a story: https://pjmedia.com/trending/2017/06/23/why-the-cop-who-shot-philando-castile-was-rightly-acquitted/ https://pjmedia.com/trending/2017/06/23/why-the-cop-who-shot... https://pjmedia.com/trending/2016/07/16/philando-castile-got-pulled-over-a-lot-and-deserved-it/ https://pjmedia.com/trending/2016/07/16/philando-castile-got...
- SwellJoe 9y agoThat's so repulsive I don't think a mere downvote is enough. That's a horrific character assassination of a man who did nothing wrong. Even if he were a hardened criminal (which he was not), cops are not judge and jury and it is repugnant to suggest they have the right to execute someone for having traffic tickets.
- athanas 9y agoI think it's interesting how you emphasize nothing to mean "was pulled over 46 times for driving with a suspended license." If your license was suspended, would you keep driving and assert that you were doing nothing wrong? Officer Yanez's story is that Castile was reaching for a gun in his lap. Do you know this to be false beyond a reasonable doubt? How? Have you considered the possibility that you're engaging in a "horrific character assassination" of Jeronimo Yanez (whose life is destroyed and will never be able to work again)? Do you normally decide on issues when you've heard only one side of the story? Here's a summary from the trial, presented more or less unemotionally: http://www.twincities.com/2017/06/08/philando-castile-police-shooting-yanez-trial-where-gun-was-found/ http://www.twincities.com/2017/06/08/philando-castile-police...
- jacquesm 9y agoAnonymous coward indeed. What's in it for you? Why on earth would you want to peddle this crap?
- dosshell 9y agoWhat's wrong with sharing both sides point of view? Even if one side is pure evil, should we not at least give it an opportunity to defend it self?
- jt2190 9y ago> The only upside... is Facebook refused to hand over the information
- azinman2 9y ago“Yanez was acquitted and Philando Castile is still dead -- a man who did nothing more than try to comply with an officer's orders.” That’s a bold claim. If we watch the video, we can see the officer repeatedly saying “stay away from the gun.” It’s not clear what’s happening, but I can at least say I don’t know for sure what did in this tragic case.
- michaelmrose 9y agoSeems to be pretty clear that the officer was paranoid and shot him without any real reason other than in the officers imagination.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- 3131s 9y agoYeah, it's clear that this shooting was wrong. Yanez came into the situation with false notions about Castille, and the situation escalated very quickly because of it. It has been pointed out elsewhere that Castille did not follow the recommended protocol for alerting the cop to his firearm, but then again Castille had been pulled over 50+ times so maybe he got a bit casual. There was confusion over Yanez's statement of "don't reach for it", given that Yanez had told him to produce his wallet shortly beforehand. The escalation happens in about 5 seconds from "don't reach for it man" to rapid-fire shooting. Castille's demeanor is not at all threatening yet Yanez stated that he thought Castille didn't care about human life because there was a marijuana smell in the car and Castille's daughter was also in the car. That said, cops are asked to do a difficult job and to enforce bad laws that pit them in a war against certain communities. The laws need to change, then fewer police and civilians will die needlessly.
- michaelmrose 9y agoPeople die without violating any law and in fact without any reason at the hands of the modern day gestapo we jokingly call a police force. The only thing that needs to change is prosecuting police officers who shoot civilians without good cause. Instead the system protects them then nut bars get angry for the right reasons but at the wrong people. Then we end up with not only dead civilians but also dead cops because some angry individual decided to ambush and kill the nearest representative of the boys in blue. This like as not kills decent people who wanted to help their community and as a nice side effect makes cops more fearful and therefore MORE likely to shoot more innocent people which riles up the populace and makes them more likely to shoot cops. The only way to short circuit this bad day is for federal authorities to punish the cops that communities wont. Unfortunately with the current administration that is laughably unlikely. Up next a bunch more dead people.
- zer00eyz 9y agoThis is revolting. Do the police just get to go to a judge and literaly say "blah blah blah we want a warrant" and the judge goes "OK"? Because it sure does feel like it sometimes. In this case FB seems to have done right by its users (or tried to). However is that always going to be the case? Are they always going to be willing, are they always going to find their rebuttal in the hands of someone who is friendly to their argument?
- zkms 9y agoIt helps if you throw around phrases like "based on my training and experience" but yes, there's plenty of judges who act like literal rubber stamps when it comes to warrants. This is why "due process" doesn't necessarily mean too much, because a lot of the time it's just a case of the law-enforcement agent finding the right judge to show the warrant application to.
- yorwba 9y agoThese systems all really need some kind of feedback loop. E.g. when a judge approves a warrant that is later found to be unjustified, they have to take responsibility. Likewise for not approving a justified warrant, otherwise you might get chilling effects. If both kinds of feedback are present, it should help the judge stay calibrated to an acceptable interpretation of "justified".
- votepaunchy 9y ago> Fruit of the poisonous tree is a legal metaphor in the United States used to describe evidence that is obtained illegally.[1] The logic of the terminology is that if the source (the "tree") of the evidence or evidence itself is tainted, then anything gained (the "fruit") from it is tainted as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_of_the_poisonous_tree https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_of_the_poisonous_tree
- ericcumbee 9y agoIt also does not help that in many smaller counties (at least in Georgia, and I think other places) there is no requirement that the magistrate judge (the Judge that signs off on warrants) has to be a lawyer.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- SwellJoe 9y agoThere are so many things I can't even believe about this case. One of them is how many people are willing to believe absurd theories in order to justify this murder. Castile was a law-abiding citizen, with a job, a girlfriend, people who cared about him, and no criminal record. Why would anyone believe he would reach for a gun with an officer pointing a gun at his chest? Why is that even a claim that can be taken seriously? So many people say, "We can't know what happened in the car." Unless you believe a rational, by all accounts kind-hearted, adult with no history of violence or crime would suddenly decide to have a shootout with cops with a little girl in the car, we can know what happened in the car. What must you think of black men to believe a story that is so absurd on the face of it? I've heard the argument that it was the gun that made it possible for people to believe the officer's version of events. But, would anyone believe this story if it had been a white man in his 30s in the same situation? And, how horrifying must it be to wake up each day, as a black man in America, knowing that a jury of Castile's peers believes that at any moment any black man could snap and go on a murderous rampage? That's the only thing I can come up with that makes any of this work; that white America still believes black men are inherently dangerous. I'm horrified by every police execution of an innocent person, and one shouldn't have to be a perfect citizen to not be subject to being killed by police. But, this one is the most stark example I can think of where there is no excusing it, and no way to assume the officer had legitimate reason to be afraid (aside from Tamir Rice, a 12 year old with a BB gun, who was given mere seconds from the time of arrival of police on the scene before he was gunned down...by an officer who also faced no consequences). You have to believe black people are inherently dangerous to believe the police officer's story on this. And, a jury did just that.
- ekianjo 9y agoThe recent book, The Rise of the Warrior Cop is an excellent read that goes at length to explain how the US police force has become responsible for such acts. The war on drugs is in large part to blame for the problem and the fact that polIcers can kill with complete impunity.
- votepaunchy 9y agoIt was a jury of the officer's peers since Castile is dead and it was the officer on trial. And with demographics being what they are and since the defense is permitted to evaluate and whittle down the jury pool ... > There were just two black people on the jury of Castile’s supposed peers. Juror One was a young African American man who “works as a shift manager at Wendy’s and personal care attendant for his mom.” He expressed some lack of faith in the criminal justice system, reportedly expressing a belief that “the wealthy and powerful could get off in the legal system because they could hire better attorneys.” Juror 8 was an 18-year-old Ethiopian American who has lived in the U.S. since age 10. The Tribune notes that “the defense tried to strike her due to unfamiliarity with the U.S. legal system, but the judge denied the attempt.” > The rest of those selected for the jury were overwhelmingly middle-aged white Minnesotans, many of whom expressly stated support for police or a belief in the infallibility of the criminal justice system. http://www.salon.com/2017/06/23/the-philando-castile-jury-was-stacked-with-pro-gun-pro-cop-middle-aged-white-people_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2017/06/23/the-philando-castile-jury-wa...
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]