Police Program Aims to Pinpoint Those Most Likely to Commit Crimes – The New York Times.
It may seem a bit like a sci-fi movie future crimes division, but predictive policing is now possible with local and global surveillance systems able provide real time data on persons of interest, correlated with a continuous stream of communications and location data to derive patterns, mood, habits, and values. Regardless of legality or debate, the research is being done and pilot programs have already been implemented.
“The use of computer models by local law enforcement agencies to forecast crime is part of a larger trend by governments and corporations that are increasingly turning to predictive analytics and data mining in looking at behaviors.”
Should big data be used to identify and interact with those assumed (according to algorithms) to have a high potential to commit a crime? Is this type of intimate surveillance legal according to U.S. and international law? Now is the time for a Digital Bill of Rights and a framework for polycentric governance; to take the next step into pandoras infinite information abyss without these tools would be folly.
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Feds Develop App to Predict ‘Psychological Status’ of Americans… The new predictive policing app will conduct “an automated intervention”. While fusing location and communication data to predict an individuals mood and intervene in his or her life may sound extremely useful for helping keep people safe, this technology would be extremely dangerous if exploited by hackers, or if our system of government was somehow compromised by a malactor or special interests. Additionally, there is no provision in the constitution which allows the Government to intervene in the daily affairs of individuals; until recently, it was the job of family and community to monitor/reinforce the health of individuals… not an automated surveillance state.
“The $8.9 million federal study sought to develop algorithms that could “automatically detect behavioral events (such as episodes of drug use or stress) without requiring self-report.”
An Optimistic Message:
A Pessimistic Message:
Other Stuff That Happened:
U.S. State Department Welcomes Saudi Led Human Rights Panel – Glen Greenwald
Not a Joke – Saudi Arabia Chosen to Head UN Human Rights Panel – ZeroHedge