Amazon Stockholders Pressure Company

[Kit the Coyote]

why is this even worth mentioning?


has it led to a loss of civil liberties?


again - be specific (if you know)

what "controls" do the opponents of this fear?

Privacy groups started raising issues of police departments taking pictures of license plates of parked cars and building a database, the fear that developing such an integrated search system that would track the innocent as well as the guilty is a violation of the 4th Amendment protections against unreasonable search.

If the government were to tie all those camera systems into a single database with an effective facial recognition software system it would far exceed the data the license plate scheme would produce.

The courts are still out on this issue and have so far leaned in favor of the police in those cases on the basis of the police is able to see the license plate with or without the pictures taken. But there is an indication that the courts do have a limit on how far they are willing to let such electronic surveillance without probable cause go.

Recent rulings in relation to the use of GPS trackers and cell phone tracking indicates that if technology reaches the point where it did not just identify where a person is but tracks their movements at all times, that would rise to the level of an unwarranted search without probable cause.

This technology has that potential and thus the concern is ensuring that 4th amendment protections of privacy are not violated.

 

[ok doser]

ok, i can understand concerns with how it's used

does that mean it shouldn't be used, with safeguards?


and is there any expectation that this technology won't be open source in a couple years, available to anyone who wants it?

 

[Rosenritter]

ok, i can understand concerns with how it's used

does that mean it shouldn't be used, with safeguards?

and is there any expectation that this technology won't be open source in a couple years, available to anyone who wants it?

So if someone somewhere "promises" then you know it will be safe? Because people have never been known to misuse power?

 

[Kit the Coyote]

ok, i can understand concerns with how it's used

does that mean it shouldn't be used, with safeguards?


and is there any expectation that this technology won't be open source in a couple years, available to anyone who wants it?

I agree the potential of abuse alone does not warrant not using the technology but one of the safeguards is the people being aware that there is a risk and rightly expressing concern at their government moving in that direction. You will note the protest is against the government using this technology, not the technology itself.

The next step if you there really is a need to use this technology as suggested to track terrorists or whatever is for the legislatures and courts to provide additional limits and safeguards.