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For context, this is getting released just after the city council committee on technology had a public hearing about a bill that would require any software used

For context, this is getting released just after the city council committee on technology had a public hearing about a bill that would require any software used by the government to prosecute folks for crimes to be open source: https://www.fwdeveryone.com/t/FrtKpHJ2T0mCic3j_FSzPQ/nyc-software-transparency-bill-1696 https://www.fwdeveryone.com/t/FrtKpHJ2T0mCic3j_FSzPQ/nyc-sof... This bill would set the standard for the entire country, so the testimony is actually pretty interesting and worth watching, especially the opening speech by councilman Vacca. https://councilnyc.viebit.com/player.php?hash=xHL4m7vQXCM9 https://councilnyc.viebit.com/player.php?hash=xHL4m7vQXCM9 I also testify at 56:00, albeit hadn't prepared remarks in advance so wasn't as polished as some of the other folks.

slackingoff2017 9y ago
This is excellent news and I'm incredibly grateful the code used to convict people will be publicly scrutinized. That said, me and other C# devs have already found numerous signs that at least parts of the codebase were done by someone clueless or inexperienced with C#. And there's no tests. If someone spends the time to look into the codebase, I'm predicting a basically 100% chance that parts of this code will be shown to produce inaccurate or completely wrong results. Innocent people will probably go free because of this.
- jeffshek 9y ago
  The fact that there are no tests makes me feel incredibly sad - there are probably plenty of people who were unfairly sentenced because of this.
SeanDav 9y ago
You make a very valid and telling point early on when you point out that in NYC, a person in a job painting people's nails (Nail Technician/Cosmetologist) requires around 1000 hours of training, yet a software developer designing software that can put people in jail (or worse) requires no formal training or qualification at all! Disclaimer - I mean no disrespect to Nail Technicians.

slackingoff2017 9y ago

This is excellent news and I'm incredibly grateful the code used to convict people will be publicly scrutinized. That said, me and other C# devs have already found numerous signs that at least parts of the codebase were done by someone clueless or inexperienced with C#. And there's no tests. If someone spends the time to look into the codebase, I'm predicting a basically 100% chance that parts of this code will be shown to produce inaccurate or completely wrong results. Innocent people will probably go free because of this.

jeffshek 9y ago
The fact that there are no tests makes me feel incredibly sad - there are probably plenty of people who were unfairly sentenced because of this.

SeanDav 9y ago

You make a very valid and telling point early on when you point out that in NYC, a person in a job painting people's nails (Nail Technician/Cosmetologist) requires around 1000 hours of training, yet a software developer designing software that can put people in jail (or worse) requires no formal training or qualification at all! Disclaimer - I mean no disrespect to Nail Technicians.