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I really don't want to go into details for obvious reasons, but I was close with someone who was called frequently for cases regarding sampled music with some p
by klik99 4y ago
I really don't want to go into details for obvious reasons, but I was close with someone who was called frequently for cases regarding sampled music with some pretty big stakes and could speak with a lot of perceived (and honestly, well earned) authority. He would show an FFT analysis and time waveform and say "See? they look nothing alike". I pointed out that it's pretty easy for things to look completely different on FFT and waveforms but be the same sound. I got the sense it was a pretty lucrative side hustle. This was many years ago and I don't think the problem has gotten any better.
- paultopia 4y agounfortunately, this sort of garbage is really common in court. the FBI crime lab is kind of notorious for this kind of nonsense comparison --- see https://www.propublica.org/article/with-photo-analysis-fbi-lab-continues-shaky-forensic-science-practices https://www.propublica.org/article/with-photo-analysis-fbi-l... Every few years I teach a kind of super-basic stats (plus some python) class to law students mostly for the purpose of equipping them with the tools to notice that expert witnesses are lying to them.
- IshKebab 4y agoThat was a great read.