SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Facebook temporarily disabled the social media accounts of a woman who was posting video of her own standoff negotiations with the police:
Baltimore police shot and killed Korryn Gaines, a 23-year-old black woman, after an hourslong standoff on Monday — during which Facebook and Instagram, at police request, temporarily shut down Gaines' accounts. [...] Police Chief Jim Johnson says Gaines was posting video of the standoff to social media as it was unfolding, which prompted police to request the deactivation of her accounts. Gaines' Facebook page is now reactivated; it does not have any videos visible to the public. On Instagram, one video apparently recorded during the standoff remains. [...] A second video, now deleted, showed a police officer with a gun drawn at Gaines' door. Facebook and Instagram have not responded to NPR's requests for comment.
[...] "Gaines was posting video of the operation as it unfolded. Followers were encouraging her not to comply with negotiators' requests that she surrender peacefully," he said. "Clearly, you can see this was an exigent circumstance where life and serious injury were in jeopardy." After a short period of time, Facebook (which owns Instagram) complied and deactivated the accounts. No data was deleted, Johnson said. Police do not have the authority to directly deactivate a social media account, Johnson and the spokeswoman both said. Facebook decides whether to comply with such requests.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:24AM
> that's probably more about limiting her access to outside interference than ti was about controlling video from leaving the scene.
I know that's what they said, and probably what a lot of them thought. But how important was it really? For one thing, she had a near infinite number of other ways for people outside to send her messages. But very few ways for the public to see what was going on without going through the police. Other people on scene with their own camera phones just don't have the vantage that she did.
The problem I have is that the police were able to make that call with basically no oversight. Kind of like the decision to send in the bomb-bot to blow up the guy in dallas. What is most convenient for the police isn't necessarily what's best for society.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Francis on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:36AM
Quite important. One of the objectives necessary if they're going to bring somebody like that in alive or get the hostages out is to get and keep the hostage taker as calm as possible. Having it livestreamed probably wouldn't have been as much of an issue in the past, but having an audience, especially one that's egging the hostage taker on, leads to volatility that makes it that much harder to control the situation.
As I've already said, the videos that she took are likely to be made available to the courts at some point and any that do exist will probably eventually be released to the public. Not to mention that there were witnesses outside the building as well to document what happened. So, it's unlikely that the cops are going to be able to avoid scrutiny by asking that the stream be shut down.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @10:01AM
Oh, they will be. And they will show that Greedo shot first. Any claim of the original showing that Han shot first will of course be denied.