3 ms·
This the classic argument for a police state. Increased police powers, surveillance, suspicion, etc. are virtually guaranteed to reduce crime. Does that make
by pinko 14y ago
This the classic argument for a police state. Increased police powers, surveillance, suspicion, etc. are virtually guaranteed to reduce crime. Does that make them a good idea? How many false positives are you willing to endure to avoid a false negative?
Also, for what it's worth, the false positives (profiling) are much more "mass" in nature than the false negatives (death).
- pc86 14y agoWhile certainly a strong negative, I don't think profiling can be considered a false positive. If a false negative is a terrorist getting onto a plane, wouldn't a false positive be a non-terrorist being blocked from getting on a plane (or removed) because the FA/pilot/FAA/DHS/FBI/twitchy passenger two rows back thought they were a terrorist? Making everyone darker that a given paint swatch go through additional screening is abhorrent, but I don't think it's a false positive.