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I would actually be fine with this kind of surveillance of my movements, except that it's inaccurate. It could lead to falsely accusing people due to circumstan
by peterwwillis 6y ago
I would actually be fine with this kind of surveillance of my movements, except that it's inaccurate. It could lead to falsely accusing people due to circumstance, like why were you in that bad neighborhood so often? You must be a drug mule. Or we saw a car just like yours go back and forth between the scene of this crime, and we don't have proof it was anyone else behind the wheel, so it must have been you.
I would actually feel better if this was used in conjunction with even more surveillance. That way there's more data to rule out coincidental or misleading information. It still wouldn't be great, but it would be better than this method alone. (They do already use cameras on cop cars to record license plates of passing cars, and cameras at intersections that flag when they register the sound of gunshots. This still isn't enough to correlate the complex movements of organized crime across the city)
Another more positive way it could be used is for community outreach programs to contact at risk youth, before they get deeply involved with gangs. Or to document and protect the LGBT POC homeless youth, one of the most vulnerable class of people in the US. Or to inform programs on overhauling public transportation, to update bus routes or plan a new rail line better. Or public health programs to battle drug addiction. Or to fine companies that dump waste into the watershed that makes its way into the harbor. You could potentially use this data for a lot of good.
Sadly, Baltimore's police have a long record of corruption, including planting evidence, a private hit squad, violence, and abuse of surveillance methods such as Stringrays. So even if I'd like to play devil's advocate, this is not a city with a great track record. They need to make this program very transparent to show it isn't abused.
- taborj 6y agoI will never be fine with this kind of surveillance, in part because it can never be accurate about intentions. Here, watch this, it's a good talk about why voluntarily providing information will generally backfire on you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE