4 ms·

https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/08/us/melodee-buzzard-missing-search-update https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/08/us/melodee-buzzard-missing-se... How was all of this dat

by jmpman 11mo ago

https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/08/us/melodee-buzzard-missing-search-update https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/08/us/melodee-buzzard-missing-se... How was all of this data gathered without being a violation?

FireBeyond 11mo ago
This is a reasonably common (sadly) methodology that many agencies utilize. "We are not legally permitted to blanket surveil/ALPR entire neighborhoods/towns, etc. ... ... and we can't pay a private company to do this for us ... ... but nothing prevents us from paying a private company who is doing it already, to give us that data." The line between the last two is blurry but also utilized - you can't put out an RFP for a company to capture such data that you're not permitted to, but if that company is doing it because it sees a/your market for it, then it's a free-for-all.
- RHSeeger 11mo ago
  And, I assume, you can pay them to put up a "this is how fast you are going, slow down" sign. And they can add a camera to it, that has nothing to do with you paying them to put it up in the first place... and then sell them access to data from the camera.
  - FireBeyond 11mo ago
    Yeah, it's very nudge nudge wink wink. Which is why Flock advertises to HOAs and private businesses too. Because then they'll agree to share their data and hey look, Flock can say "we have ALPR and other data from this HOA, you can have it because you didn't ask us to get it for you".
- deaux 11mo ago
  Flock (YC S17) Bets on this strategy having been part of their seed pitch deck? Guess they would've left it out, keeping it as nudge nudge wink wink and discussing during QA.
  - deleted 11mo ago
    [deleted]
  - jackstraw42 11mo ago
    > Flock (YC S17) Ah, and there it is. Why shouldn't Y-Combinator be a force for evil like the rest of them? Paul Graham has been off his rocker for about as long as I can remember now, unfortunately my memories of people like this doing anything good for the world are so far in the past, they're fading. What a shame.
    - lightedman 11mo ago
      "Why shouldn't Y-Combinator be a force for evil like the rest of them?" We should figure out a way to hold YC accountable for their helping these companies screw our rights and privacy.
      - badgersnake 11mo ago
        I don’t know where this idea that YC is supposed to be an ethical investor comes from. It’s certainly not in their principles: https://www.ycombinator.com/principles/ https://www.ycombinator.com/principles/
      - TheNewsIsHere 11mo ago
        > We should figure out a way to hold YC accountable for their helping these companies screw our rights and privacy. Good thoughts like these are why I’m sort of surprised they still run HN on such an obviously, directly, unambiguously attributable domain name. The watering hole effect, perhaps.
  - blitzar 11mo ago
    > YC S17 Ahh that year was somewhere between blockchain and ai - no surprise they would default back to surveillance capitalism, go with what you know.
    - deaux 11mo ago

by jmpman 11mo ago

https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/08/us/melodee-buzzard-missing-search-update https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/08/us/melodee-buzzard-missing-se... How was all of this data gathered without being a violation?

FireBeyond 11mo ago

This is a reasonably common (sadly) methodology that many agencies utilize. "We are not legally permitted to blanket surveil/ALPR entire neighborhoods/towns, etc. ... ... and we can't pay a private company to do this for us ... ... but nothing prevents us from paying a private company who is doing it already, to give us that data." The line between the last two is blurry but also utilized - you can't put out an RFP for a company to capture such data that you're not permitted to, but if that company is doing it because it sees a/your market for it, then it's a free-for-all.

RHSeeger 11mo ago
And, I assume, you can pay them to put up a "this is how fast you are going, slow down" sign. And they can add a camera to it, that has nothing to do with you paying them to put it up in the first place... and then sell them access to data from the camera.
- FireBeyond 11mo ago
  Yeah, it's very nudge nudge wink wink. Which is why Flock advertises to HOAs and private businesses too. Because then they'll agree to share their data and hey look, Flock can say "we have ALPR and other data from this HOA, you can have it because you didn't ask us to get it for you".
deaux 11mo ago
Flock (YC S17) Bets on this strategy having been part of their seed pitch deck? Guess they would've left it out, keeping it as nudge nudge wink wink and discussing during QA.
- deleted 11mo ago
  [deleted]
- jackstraw42 11mo ago
  > Flock (YC S17) Ah, and there it is. Why shouldn't Y-Combinator be a force for evil like the rest of them? Paul Graham has been off his rocker for about as long as I can remember now, unfortunately my memories of people like this doing anything good for the world are so far in the past, they're fading. What a shame.
  - lightedman 11mo ago
    "Why shouldn't Y-Combinator be a force for evil like the rest of them?" We should figure out a way to hold YC accountable for their helping these companies screw our rights and privacy.
    - badgersnake 11mo ago
      I don’t know where this idea that YC is supposed to be an ethical investor comes from. It’s certainly not in their principles: https://www.ycombinator.com/principles/ https://www.ycombinator.com/principles/
    - TheNewsIsHere 11mo ago
      > We should figure out a way to hold YC accountable for their helping these companies screw our rights and privacy. Good thoughts like these are why I’m sort of surprised they still run HN on such an obviously, directly, unambiguously attributable domain name. The watering hole effect, perhaps.
- blitzar 11mo ago
  > YC S17 Ahh that year was somewhere between blockchain and ai - no surprise they would default back to surveillance capitalism, go with what you know.
  - deaux 11mo ago