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If we ignore the obvious possibility of blackmailing people who have something (legal) to hide, there's also a huge problem of innocent people being in a wrong

If we ignore the obvious possibility of blackmailing people who have something (legal) to hide, there's also a huge problem of innocent people being in a wrong place at a wrong time. It's not hard to presume that police would use such database to quickly find everyone with a previous convictions who were in the neighborhood when crime happened, and would then try really hard to connect them to it. Which is great if they pick the right guy right away, but history teaches us that they often don't. Mistakes happen a lot in investigations, and this type of tool - if police trust it too much - could make it even easier for them to jump to conclusions and fall for prejudices. Even if they don't, at the best, it will still create a lot of inconvenience to people who only happened to drive too close to the crime scene in a wrong time. Having police questioning you is very sensitive and unpleasant experience, especially if you're not the white middle-class and you have previous convictions. Police coming to your work can get you fired immediately even if you're completely innocent. Or landlord can kick you out, or wife can leave you. You could easily completely screw up someone's life with this, and still not get any closer to solve the actual crime.

lopmotr 7y ago
The problem there is the police using bad processes. That's not insolvable. Courts already have processes to protect against some of that cherry picking and prosecutor's fallacy type stuff. Avoiding technology doesn't seem like a sensible solution when safety processes already work in many areas. If you can legally be fired for having police show up at work, then you're at risk of being fired for any reason and that itself is a problem. Solve that problem with employment protection laws like many countries already have.
- ivanhoe 7y ago
  You're talking about a wishful thinking, I'm talking about the (for many people rather harsh) reality. I agree, it can (and should) be solved in the ways you mention, but this technology will not wait, it's here now. At the moment it's just incredible how often cops and prosecutors will trick possibly innocent people into plea bargaining to close the cases as quickly as possible and avoid having to prove them guilty in actual trials. Tech that makes it easier to round-up "the usual suspects" will just make it easier for them to do it to an even bigger group of people.

lopmotr 7y ago

The problem there is the police using bad processes. That's not insolvable. Courts already have processes to protect against some of that cherry picking and prosecutor's fallacy type stuff. Avoiding technology doesn't seem like a sensible solution when safety processes already work in many areas. If you can legally be fired for having police show up at work, then you're at risk of being fired for any reason and that itself is a problem. Solve that problem with employment protection laws like many countries already have.

ivanhoe 7y ago
You're talking about a wishful thinking, I'm talking about the (for many people rather harsh) reality. I agree, it can (and should) be solved in the ways you mention, but this technology will not wait, it's here now. At the moment it's just incredible how often cops and prosecutors will trick possibly innocent people into plea bargaining to close the cases as quickly as possible and avoid having to prove them guilty in actual trials. Tech that makes it easier to round-up "the usual suspects" will just make it easier for them to do it to an even bigger group of people.