4 ms·

'We made a mistake': Citizen app offers $30K reward for wrong man in CA wildfire

26 points by bryan0 5y ago

rkagerer 5y ago
Can any lawyers around comment on recourse the guy might have against the company?
- engineer_22 5y ago
  Not a lawyer, but this sure seems like libel.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
arthurcolle 5y ago
Wow, so active community vigilantism isn't actually a solution to solving problems - shocking.
- greenyoda 5y ago
  Agreed. Despite all the problems there are with cops, I think that it's better to leave law enforcement to law enforcement officers and not encourage random citizens to become vigilantes.
scotuswroteus 5y ago
I'm glad they're acknowledging the app they made was a mistake.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
duxup 5y ago
I wonder how they manage the number of internet vigilantes out there more than willing to offer distorted "information". I was on reddit and ran across a video that the submission claimed to be of someone poisoning local pets. The video showed someone pouring something on the ground from a distance. We never see what it is. Later we get a video where the camera person is screaming at the person they are recoding. The person just walks away as the camera person follows them yelling. I was a bit horrified that when I expressed in some skepticism I was meet with a lot of arguments like. "Why didn't they stop to talk if they're innocent?" "You know people really do this." "You don't have to defend a dog killer you know." Apps that just have text and a photo, not even an image of a crime, people will believe it whole hog. A during riots in Minneapolis a local social media apps and sites had rumors spread fast about drive by shootings by people on pickup trucks with assult rifles, several nights in a row despite it never appearing in the news. One city council member spread the rumors of a full on Klan ralley in a park with hoods and all...
redis_mlc 5y ago
The rise of online vigilantes in the US is disgusting. I find the self-admitted "cancellers" know even less than the people they're cancelling. For example, none of the 5 people who died on Jan. 6 were killed by protesters - 4 died of natural causes, and one was shot by Capitol police. I used to laugh at stories about the CCP "50 Cent Army" in China, but we now have the same thing in the US, despite having a functioning LEO and court system here.
asddubs 5y ago
>Citizen — a mobile app that sends users location-based safety alerts in real time — launched in 2016 under the name "Vigilante." It rebranded in 2017 but faced accusations of encouraging vigilante activity in 2019 in New York. This really made me laugh

26 points by bryan0 5y ago

rkagerer 5y ago

Can any lawyers around comment on recourse the guy might have against the company?

engineer_22 5y ago
Not a lawyer, but this sure seems like libel.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

arthurcolle 5y ago

Wow, so active community vigilantism isn't actually a solution to solving problems - shocking.

greenyoda 5y ago
Agreed. Despite all the problems there are with cops, I think that it's better to leave law enforcement to law enforcement officers and not encourage random citizens to become vigilantes.

scotuswroteus 5y ago

I'm glad they're acknowledging the app they made was a mistake.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

duxup 5y ago

I wonder how they manage the number of internet vigilantes out there more than willing to offer distorted "information". I was on reddit and ran across a video that the submission claimed to be of someone poisoning local pets. The video showed someone pouring something on the ground from a distance. We never see what it is. Later we get a video where the camera person is screaming at the person they are recoding. The person just walks away as the camera person follows them yelling. I was a bit horrified that when I expressed in some skepticism I was meet with a lot of arguments like. "Why didn't they stop to talk if they're innocent?" "You know people really do this." "You don't have to defend a dog killer you know." Apps that just have text and a photo, not even an image of a crime, people will believe it whole hog. A during riots in Minneapolis a local social media apps and sites had rumors spread fast about drive by shootings by people on pickup trucks with assult rifles, several nights in a row despite it never appearing in the news. One city council member spread the rumors of a full on Klan ralley in a park with hoods and all...

redis_mlc 5y ago

The rise of online vigilantes in the US is disgusting. I find the self-admitted "cancellers" know even less than the people they're cancelling. For example, none of the 5 people who died on Jan. 6 were killed by protesters - 4 died of natural causes, and one was shot by Capitol police. I used to laugh at stories about the CCP "50 Cent Army" in China, but we now have the same thing in the US, despite having a functioning LEO and court system here.

asddubs 5y ago

>Citizen — a mobile app that sends users location-based safety alerts in real time — launched in 2016 under the name "Vigilante." It rebranded in 2017 but faced accusations of encouraging vigilante activity in 2019 in New York. This really made me laugh