4 ms·

Looks like a nothingburger? It's unfunded. An email describes a protest without giving a framing that the site would prefer. Then it turns out that nobody know

Looks like a nothingburger? It's unfunded. An email describes a protest without giving a framing that the site would prefer. Then it turns out that nobody knows what it does, but it might do something bad. I'm all for transparency and accountability but my assumption is that the bad things being done by LEO and intelligence are far worse than this.

Shalomboy 5mo ago
My take away from the article was that this likely isn't the only public-private intelligence network propped up by local PDs; that was pretty alarming to me.
- erxam 5mo ago
  I think this is a good point: this is what they're letting us on.
- nikhilpareek13 5mo ago
  [flagged]
- lacewing 5mo ago
  Would it shock your conscience to learn that Microsoft security operations probably have contacts with the Redmond PD and that they occasionally discuss concerns? The existence of a mailing list or something of that sort isn't particularly worrying. I don't think it's reasonable to expect a firewall between police departments and local businesses any more that it would be reasonable to expect one between PDs and local residents. I would be alarmed if it turned out that Amazon was giving the Seattle PD direct, warrantless access to data about their consumers, or something like that. But there's no evidence presented here of anything particularly sketchy going on.
- whimsicalism 5mo ago
  Yes, large businesses have contacts with local PD in the area. This is what BIDs basically are as well
- kube-system 5mo ago
  Most large businesses do this for hundreds if not thousands of years. Large open source projects do it too. Basically any organization that does any attempt to analyze threats of any sort will have a need to collaborate with law enforcement. Walmart does it for theft rings. Canonical does it for hacking threats targeting Ubuntu. Your bank does it for people trying to steal money.
LoganDark 5mo ago
Do you mean unfounded?
- 1234letshaveatw 5mo ago
  Unfunded. It's in the article
acidhousemcnab 5mo ago
There were a lot of articles describing Snowdon / Manning and Wikileaks releases as exactly "nothing burgers", in those journals of note that people read to tell them what to think about matters - but I'm not sure what a "nothing burger" means - pulverised cattle flesh flattened into an oval, that doesn't exist?
- shermantanktop 5mo ago
  The validity of the term should be separate from the pernicious use by people who would like you to stop paying attention to things that matter. I think there’s lots of stuff in this space that is worth paying attention to, including for example just how complete a profile companies like Experian have assembled on US citizens, or Flock and LPR generally. This just seems a lot of fluff with nothing substantial, hence a nothingburger.
- pc86 5mo ago
  Is there a term for this weird autistic pseudo-nerd-sniping where someone pretends not to understand a very common expression and takes it absurdly literally to try to prove a point?
  - acidhousemcnab 5mo ago
    No I'm just not from the United States (or a solipsist).

Shalomboy 5mo ago

My take away from the article was that this likely isn't the only public-private intelligence network propped up by local PDs; that was pretty alarming to me.

erxam 5mo ago
I think this is a good point: this is what they're letting us on.
nikhilpareek13 5mo ago
[flagged]
lacewing 5mo ago
Would it shock your conscience to learn that Microsoft security operations probably have contacts with the Redmond PD and that they occasionally discuss concerns? The existence of a mailing list or something of that sort isn't particularly worrying. I don't think it's reasonable to expect a firewall between police departments and local businesses any more that it would be reasonable to expect one between PDs and local residents. I would be alarmed if it turned out that Amazon was giving the Seattle PD direct, warrantless access to data about their consumers, or something like that. But there's no evidence presented here of anything particularly sketchy going on.
whimsicalism 5mo ago
Yes, large businesses have contacts with local PD in the area. This is what BIDs basically are as well
kube-system 5mo ago
Most large businesses do this for hundreds if not thousands of years. Large open source projects do it too. Basically any organization that does any attempt to analyze threats of any sort will have a need to collaborate with law enforcement. Walmart does it for theft rings. Canonical does it for hacking threats targeting Ubuntu. Your bank does it for people trying to steal money.

LoganDark 5mo ago

Do you mean unfounded?

1234letshaveatw 5mo ago
Unfunded. It's in the article

acidhousemcnab 5mo ago

There were a lot of articles describing Snowdon / Manning and Wikileaks releases as exactly "nothing burgers", in those journals of note that people read to tell them what to think about matters - but I'm not sure what a "nothing burger" means - pulverised cattle flesh flattened into an oval, that doesn't exist?

shermantanktop 5mo ago
The validity of the term should be separate from the pernicious use by people who would like you to stop paying attention to things that matter. I think there’s lots of stuff in this space that is worth paying attention to, including for example just how complete a profile companies like Experian have assembled on US citizens, or Flock and LPR generally. This just seems a lot of fluff with nothing substantial, hence a nothingburger.
pc86 5mo ago
Is there a term for this weird autistic pseudo-nerd-sniping where someone pretends not to understand a very common expression and takes it absurdly literally to try to prove a point?
- acidhousemcnab 5mo ago
  No I'm just not from the United States (or a solipsist).