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posted by martyb on Friday February 08 2019, @03:39AM   Printer-friendly
from the where-there's-a-will-there's-a...waze dept.

NYPD asks Google to scrap Waze's DUI checkpoints

The NYPD has sent Google a cease-and-desist letter, asking it to axe a Waze feature that allows users to mark cops' locations on the navigation app. Based on the letter first seen by Streetsblog NYC and CBS New York, authorities believe the feature is making it harder to enforce the law and keep the roads safe. The NYPD sent the cease-and-desist just a couple of weeks after Waze debuted speed camera notifications, but the cops' letter mostly focused on the fact that the ability allows users to give each other a heads-up about sobriety checkpoints.

[...] [Based] on the statement it provided to NYT, [Google] doesn't have any intention to give in to the NYPD's demand. It told the publication that safety is a top priority for the company and that "informing drivers about upcoming speed traps allows them to be more careful and make safer decisions when they're on the road."

Also at Gizmodo.


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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday February 08 2019, @04:10PM (4 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 08 2019, @04:10PM (#798363) Journal

    They may even win this, although as time passes, they are being forced to be more and more transparent.

    A transparent police state with absolute power is still a police state.

    Being transparent doesn't make it more desirable.

    "Being forced to be more and more transparent" could mean two things:
    1. the transparency undermines their bad behavior and may become an effective check on such bad behavior
    2. the transparency is despite the bad behavior which is now so deeply entrenched that complete public exposure and transparency cannot possibly threaten their bad behavior

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    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday February 08 2019, @04:26PM (3 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 08 2019, @04:26PM (#798377) Journal

    The transparency helps to expose how fraudulent the various police forces, and police practices are. That is a good thing, in and of itself. You can't correct a problem that you don't know about. You MIGHT correct problems that you are aware of.

    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday February 08 2019, @04:48PM (2 children)

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 08 2019, @04:48PM (#798398) Journal

      I can't disagree with that. But once it moves beyond the event horizon of correctible, then transparency about that fact simply doesn't matter and won't save you.

      I seriously wonder if things have already become so dysfunctional that, other than some small gains here and there, the system will implode. I hope not. But I wonder.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday February 08 2019, @05:09PM (1 child)

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 08 2019, @05:09PM (#798408) Journal

        There is hope. Look at BLM, Black Lives Matter. That bunch is about 70% full of shit, but there is truth to what they say. A lot of unarmed black men, especially of military age, have been more or less executed by the cops. Locally, a young black man ran from the cops, and took refuge in a pond. Officially, he drowned. Nothing mysterious about that, right? Young guy, all out of breath, runs into a pond in the middle of the night, trying to hide from the cops. The coroner finds that he died of drowning. But, Mother examined the body, and found six bullet holes in his back. Hmmmm . . .

        Shit like that has been going on for as long as Euros and Afros have lived on this continent. But, public scrutiny seems to be slowing that, somewhat. Ubiquitous video catches more of them than ever before. The status quo is changing. The attitude of judges that a cop's word is reliable is slowly changing, in the face of all that video.

        There is hope. Don't expect dramatic changes overnight, but things are changing.

        • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday February 08 2019, @06:04PM

          by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 08 2019, @06:04PM (#798439) Journal

          I do see the changes you are talking about.

          Look at YouTube videos of interactions with cops about five years ago. Photography is a crime. Or police body cams were considered invasive. "Would you want to work with a camera watching you all day?" (was the argument used) Police not releasing camera footage that showed misconduct.

          There seems to have been a big change. Departments now seem to be less willing to protect obviously bad cops. This is in part due to the explosion of clear video evidence of bad cop behavior. One in particular was arresting a nurse for refusing to draw blood from an unconscious man . . . who was a reserve cop. Look at recent YouTube videos, and the cops own videos show interactions, even violence, shootings, etc. It's no longer secret, and they seem (mostly) to have adapted to being in the public eye.

          But we have many other societal problems. I'm not convinced (but am hopeful) that they can be fixed. The fact that we are so deeply politically divided should be disturbing to people rather than the Rah Rah Rah My Side My Side!!! The lobbying and corruption. Other things that we should all be able to agree about that should not be divisive.

          In a nutshell: I see some things get better, gradually. I'm not fully convinced things won't go off the rails. But I am hopeful. Maybe because the alternative would be so awful.

          --
          People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.