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GPS 'kill' switch allows state police cruisers to go dark and disable tracking
https://archive.ph/2Xln7 https://archive.ph/2Xln7
- spacedcowboy 11mo agoIronically enough on a “going dark” post, trying to access the site from outside the US is forbidden…
- rbanffy 11mo agoA completely inappropriate use of the 451 HTTP status code. Europe is not censoring anyone. It’s just a website that refuses to protect user privacy. BTW, https://archive.is/2Xln7 https://archive.is/2Xln7
- parineum 11mo ago> It’s just a website that refuses to protect user privacy. To be pedantic, they aren't refusing to protect privacy, they're refusing to comply with GDPR which requires more than just protecting privacy. It could be that they just don't want to put a big dumb banner on their site.
- aniviacat 11mo agoYou don't need a cookie banner if you respect users' privacy.
- kayfox 11mo agoBut you do need a GDPR specialized attorney to review all of what your doing even if you don't use any cookies. Why? Even logging an IP address in a request log is creating records controlled by GDPR. When TV news in the US is broke and only gets along because large companies buy up stations to control the news, its hard to justify spending tens of thousands of dollars on complying with laws from another continent.
- subscribed 11mo ago> logging an IP address.... Untrue. IP is an category of PII but its not PII in itself unless you're a law enforcement. Separately, if you log IP addresses you're doing it to prevent abuse and to provide security to your server, you're already permitted to do so. More on that: https://missinfogeek.net/gdpr-consent/ https://missinfogeek.net/gdpr-consent/
- einsteinx2 11mo agoThat sounds like a great example of why you need a GDPR specialized attorney to review everything you do then…or just return status code 451 and call it a day.
- subscribed 11mo agoFair point, thanks.
- hfsh 11mo agoOr more likely, they set up a temporary redirect 7 years ago thinking 'oh we need some time to figure it out', and promptly forgot about it.
- sverhagen 11mo agoTo be pedantic some more, they used a HTTP 301 to get you to a page that uses a HTTP 200. It just _says_ "Error 451".
- rbanffy 11mo agoSigh. I should have suspected that’d be the case.
- 1718627440 11mo agoThanks, and I wouldn't even classify that as pedantic.
- troad 11mo agoThere are a thousand and one legal reasons one may wish to block a region, including Europe. From anti-gay speech laws in Hungary, through the VAT/tax obligations that kick in at one cent, to all sorts of watershed rules and disclaimers and alien and unjust laws (such as lese majeste laws, or absurd British 'online safety' laws). Every day I see Europeans on here sharing tips how to de-cloud and de-America, bemoaning the open Internet, yearning for Balkanisation. Cool. Well, this site does it for you. You're welcome! Enjoy!
- jchw 11mo agoWhile it may not look flattering, it is absolutely a correct usage of the 451 status code. From the standard itself[1]: This status code can be used to provide transparency in circumstances where issues of law or public policy affect server operations. This transparency may be beneficial both to these operators and to end users. ... This status code indicates that the server is denying access to the resource as a consequence of a legal demand. You could get pedantic over whether or not this counts as a legal demand, but the example makes it relatively clear that "legal demand" here is fairly broad. GDPR law does indeed make it illegal to serve certain web pages to EU visitors. If the operators are not willing to make amendments to comply with the law, then responding with HTTP 451 is the most correct thing to do. It doesn't mean the law is inherently bad, but it does mean that serving the request would be illegal, because that is how the law is written. If this feels "completely inappropriate", then maybe it's because the modern web platform is completely ass-backwards in the first place. One must wonder why we're continuing to tolerate giving effectively static web pages so many privileges on our computers passively. I think browsers should flat-out start removing said privileges from websites that abuse them. [1]: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7725 https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7725
- subscribed 11mo agoIt is illegal only if the website uses pervasive user tracking. Its like with cookie banners - they are not necessary if the site is not deploying the surveillance on the users.
- jchw 11mo agoBasically what you are saying is it should be illegal to load that page unless they change it. And it is illegal. They have no interest in changing the page. Therefore, they are preventing the page from loading as a result of legal reasons, not because there is any technical issue with loading the page. I don't know how to break this to you, but that is the correct status code. They can be forgiven that they didn't make a second status code for "Page Can't Be Loaded Because It's Illegal But Actually It Should Be In Many People's Opinions". I'm not in favor of pervasive internet tracking, but that doesn't change the reality: it is illegal for them to serve you that page. Putting it that way does make it sound bad, but what do you want to do, invent new words to make it seem better? It's what it is.
- Marsymars 11mo agoFWIW, it works for me from Canada.
- lmz 11mo agoGood. Those countries claiming global reach of their laws and regulations should not be surprised when people elsewhere refuse to serve their people.
- mtmail 11mo agomirror https://archive.ph/2Xln7 https://archive.ph/2Xln7
- rbanffy 11mo agoFrom outside the US, you can use https://archive.is/2Xln7 https://archive.is/2Xln7
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- reaperducer 11mo agoI like the use of "go dark" when discussing police, considering so many American police agencies now use black patrol cars with black lettering on them so they can't be seen. Meanwhile, in the UK, police cars are tarted up with fluorescent geometric patterns to make them as visible as possible. It certainly shows a contrast in intent. One is "Here I am, come to me for help!" and the other is "I'm the secret police, show me your papers while I switch off my body camera."
- ocdtrekkie 11mo agoYeah this is a silly cultural thing. I participate in a non-law enforcement, completely volunteer emergency response organization, and other members will buy black tactical vests that "look cool" with their name and the organization on them. Meanwhile... I wear the... brightest most neon thing I possibly can because when I am in the middle of a four lane road directing traffic, I want to be brighter than the sun because I don't want to get hit. From volunteers up to the ICE gestapo, people watch too much TV where the cops get to shoot things up and look awesome doing it, and that's often what they want to be.
- SoftTalker 11mo agoIt’s like when governors or mayors wear DHS windbreakers after some emergency, as if they’ve just come off the front lines of the response.
- kylehotchkiss 11mo agoHey that 5 minute helicopter tour of the emergency may have been windy for a few minutes
- gishh 11mo ago> I participate in a non-law enforcement, completely volunteer emergency response organization Can I ask you to expand on this part? I’m really, sincerely curious.
- 11mo ago
- netsharc 11mo agoI feel like people who lived in corrupt countries have a lot to teach Americans, who now live in an openly corrupt one... How to grease wheels, how to make powerful friends for one's own advantage. (Sure maybe the "elite" were already obviously openly corrupt, but now that it's reached to the lower levels of society...).
- CSMastermind 11mo agoAmerica is not a corrupt country in the sense that places overseas are. You will go to jail for trying to openly bribe the police here and political hysterics aside rule of law generally prevails. What has happened is that America has slipped from being a high trust society to a medium trust one.
- tyingq 11mo agoIt does vary. Rural sheriff departments being one example.
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- throwawaypath 11mo agoUrban city police departments being another example.
- godsinhisheaven 11mo agoSuburban police departments are another example
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- anjel 11mo agoRoadside Civil Asset Forfeiture is still a thing...
- Gigachad 11mo agoLink is broken
- rbanffy 11mo agohttps://archive.is/2Xln7 https://archive.is/2Xln7
- lingrush4 11mo ago[flagged]
- kylecazar 11mo agoI'm more concerned that multiple of the people mentioned think it's OK to drink, on the clock, with a badge and a gun. Maybe cops should start logging a breathalyzer result at clock in/clock out.
- gs17 11mo agoThey should, but I'm sure they would find a way around it.
- 0xbadcafebee 11mo agoI'm pretty sure most people apply for positions of authority so they can abuse it
- angry_octet 11mo agoI have never seen this from a US website before: We’re Sorry! This website is unavailable in your location. Error 451 It appears you are attempting to access this website from a country outside of the United States, therefore access cannot be granted at this time.
- bloudermilk 11mo agoI spent a couple years in Europe and found that most local news websites in the US blocked access entirely. My guess was that they all share IT resources / policies of the conglomerate news corp, who decided it would be cheaper to simply ignore traffic from GDRP countries.
- rkomorn 11mo agoI have the same experience. I assumed it was a mix of (as you say) not wanting to deal with EU rules, but also not wanting to deal with licensing concerns (eg "do I have the right to show this media in this country"). Part of why I assumed the latter is that sports, in particular, had a high occurrence of "this content isn't available where you are" blocks.
- bloudermilk 11mo agoGreat point, I had never thought of that!
- angry_octet 11mo agoExcept I'm not in Europe.
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- firebot 11mo agoGPS works on triangulation. You need inputs from multiple satellites. Yes, clearly you can just ignore those signals.
- gblargg 11mo agoIt would have been comical if someone had altered the kill switches to instead alert someone to put extra scrutiny on the location when enabled.
- zomg 11mo agoma resident here. there's massive corruption within the ma state police. the karen read trial uncovered a fair amount but i suspect we've only seen the tip of the iceberg. stories like this sadly don't surprise me.