4 ms·
Obviously getting it wrong is a problem--but i think you folks are conflating two issues. If the FBI had wanted to detain this man, would that have made it oka
by Gunax 5y ago
Obviously getting it wrong is a problem--but i think you folks are conflating two issues.
If the FBI had wanted to detain this man, would that have made it okay? What if this app had just broadcast the FBIs own reward?
You're reading into it too much, and acting like people want mob justice.
People have been offering rewards for apprehension or 'information about' for my whole life, and no one thought it was weird. But as soon as a tech company does it, the media goes bonkers. This is another example of the ridiculous axe the nedia wants to grind against anything tech.
- mplewis 5y agoThe CEO does want mob justice. The original name of the app was Vigilante!
- Gunax 5y agoI think to take the name of an app and extrapolate that it means mob justice (and not just community watch style activities) is another example of reading into it too much. It sounds like they wanted a catchy name (and its a much better name than the bland 'citizen'). I suppose you can argue that it reveals a true motive that they have since wisened up to. Although I agree it looks bad.
- mplewis 5y agoYes, the CEO has certainly "wisened up to" vigilante justice, and that's why he offered to fund a manhunt of an innocent person less than a week ago. Are we living in the same reality?
- s1artibartfast 5y agoI think it is relevant that Manhunt =/= vigilante justice and people are widely conflating the two. When the police, family, or NGO post rewards for info, this isn’t vigilantism.
- elliekelly 5y agoThey literally said “hunt this guy down” and “get out there and bring this guy to justice” in their broadcast announcing the reward. They also directed users to a specific location to investigate. Surely you can understand how “hunt this guy down for $30k” is _very_ different from “please call us with tips or information you know for a cash reward”?
- s1artibartfast 5y ago> Surely you can understand how “hunt this guy down for $30k” is _very_ different from “please call us with tips or information you know for a cash reward”? I really don’t see the functional difference. I don’t think they were calling for people to apprehend or take justice into their own hands. The words and tone are different, but the request for action is the same.
- kangaroozach 5y agoIt’s basically the Postmates of Bounty Hunting, without the Bounty.
- makomk 5y agoPresumably law enforcement did want to detain this man, given that they actually ended up locating him themselves and detaining him, and the article is just carefully glossing over this aspect to push a narrative about dangerous big tech companies hunting down innocent people because they've just randomly decided those people are criminals. Like, if they had any evidence that Citizen were responsible for the police's belief that he should be arrested rather than vice-versa, I have a feeling that would be really prominently mentioned in the article.