Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2015/12/17/uks-unaccountable-crowdsourc.html
…
Pre-pre-crime, coming soon to a formerly democratic nation near you.
6 Likes
And then to the nation around you. These things spread like honey spilled on the floor; after a while, everything is sticky.
6 Likes
Crowdsourced
How long until 4chan or Anonymous decide to mess with it, I wonder?
3 Likes
What’s with all the hideous Francis Bacon nightmare demons shopping around Charing Cross?
2 Likes
This is a private venture? From what I could tell it looks like an NGO. If it is an NGO, what due process should anyone expect?
1 Like
I work in a place that has actual law enforcement checking entry via metal detector and xray scanner. The cops manning the entry point carry handguns, and having a mild interest in lots of stuff combined with a sometime lackadaisical mental filter, I once asked one of the cops what caliber their weapons were, what brand they were.
Not only did I not receive an answer, the LEO I asked told me, quietly, that they were supposed to report anyone asking about their weapons as a potential something [threat or whatever]. I told the LEO that I’m curious, that I work in the building, that I’m a mild gun enthusiast…and I left out that I’m an American living in America and when did it become illegal to ask questions?
All of which is to say that the whole exchange left me distinctly uncomfortable and wondering if I’d suddenly been added to some particular list of dangerous people, a list which I’ll never know I’m on and never be aware of how I might be removed from it. That the government holds such lists bothers me for a lot of reasons, that coffee shop X might hold or use such lists strikes me as much worse.
3 Likes
Be seeing you!
2 Likes
As a past user of Facewatch I will tell you, it’s information that is provided from shops, following the DPA, and the submissions are made after confirmed crime has been committed, the images are usually provided by police or they are provided after a report of the crime has been logged with the police. It is accountable, it’s intended to be for security staff (those with SIA licences), and senior management. It’s not a database for public perusal. The people who end up on this database are those who have absolutely 100% committed an offence and and are needing arrest, or have committed a crime and have already been arrested for that crime. These people are more often than not of the violent nature and to be warned in advance of a possible violent person is a good thing. This isn’t a database of petty thieves but the minority “professional thieves” that are responsible for the 75% of theft being committed - by travelling to other towns and cities. This database is a good thing - I wouldn’t use it or advocate it if it wasn’t being done right. Advertising it here, adding a negative slant has a negative effect, attracts a bad audience and make you, the shopper, less safe.
As a security officer I specialised in arresting the professional thieves, often being asked to work in specific jobs to target particular people known to be hitting an area, often using Facewatch and other databases to get good intel and MO on them and photos when available. I gave up the work because the pay is dire and the calibre of staff is not as good as it should be. - Pay peanuts, get monkeys!
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
